DURING  THERE 


1  II  ii  ii!  liili  iliiii 


OF  XPRRQE: 


ELLIOTT 


■7-i 


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DURING    THE 
REIGN    OF    TERROR 


Grace   Dalryin])U-    I'"Iliiitt 
From  the   pdrtrait  \i\  (oswny 


DURING    THE 
REIGN    OF    TERROR 


Journal  of  my  life  during  the 
French  Revolution 


BY 

Grace   Dalrymple  Elliott 


With  an  Introduction  and  Notes 
Translated  from  the  French  by 


E,  Jules  Meras 


IRew  l^orft 
STURGIS  &  WALTON 
'     COMPANY 
1910 


Copyright  1910 
By  STURGIS  &  WALTON  COMPANY 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  March,  1910 


U" 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction     , (.,....      9 

Preface  to  First  Edition     . 19 


CHAPTER  I 
Outbreak   of   the    Revolution 29 

CHAPTER  n 

Conversations  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans  —  Sketch  of 
Marie-Antoinette  —  Unpopularity  of  the  Duke  of  Or- 
leans with  the  Court  —  He  visits  England  —  The  Neth- 
erland  Revolutionists  —  My  Passport  stopped  —  Colonel 
Gardiner,  English  Minister  at  Brussels  —  Gross  insult 
offered  to  the  British  Government  —  Interview  with  the 
Belgian  Revolutionary  Leaders  —  Infamous  Conduct  of 
Capuchin  Priests  —  IMy  Return  to  Paris  —  The  Festi- 
val of  the  Federation  at  the  Champ-de-Mars  —  Louis 
XVI. —  Marie-Antoinette  —  Talleyrand  —  The  Duke  of 
Orleans  daily  drifting  into  the  hands  of  the  most  violent 
Revolutionists  —  Conversations  with  the  Duke  —  Marie- 
Antoinette  visits  my  House  and  Gardens  —  Intrusted 
with  a  Commission  b>  Marie-Antoinette  —  The  Cheva- 
liers du  Poignard  —  A  Leader  wanted  for  the  Royalists    47 

CPIAPTER  III 

Conduct  of  Monsieur,  since  Louis  XVIII. —  Gentleness 
of  Louis   XVI. —  Royal   Family  escape  to  Varennes  — 

5 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Brought  back  to  Paris  —  Their  brutal  treatment  by  the 
Mob  —  Position  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  —  His  disposi- 
tion—  He  joins  the  Army  —  The  Mob  break  into  the 
Tuileries,  and  insult  the  King  —  Marie-Antoinette's  last 
appearance  in  public  —  The  loth  of  August  —  My  Flight 
to  Meudon  —  Return  to  Paris  —  Adventures  —  Murder 
of  the  Swiss  Guards  —  Extraordinary  escape  of  Mar- 
quis de  Chansenets 69 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Princess  X,amballe's  Murder  —  Incidents  in  the  Es- 
cape of  the  Marquis  dc  Chansenets  —  My  Adventures  in 
aiding  him  —  Domestic  Spies  —  Terror  during  Domicil- 
iary Visit  —  Interview  and  Conversation  with  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  —  The  Duke  procures  the  escape  of  the 
Marquis   to   England 95 


CHAPTER   V 

The  Murder  of  Louis  XVI  —  The  Duke  of  Orleans  prom- 
ises not  to  vote  —  Visit  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  and  the 
Due  de  Biron  to  me  —  Conversation  relative  to  the 
death  of  the  King  —  The  Duke  of  Orleans  breaks  his 
solemn  promise  —  Anecdote  of  an  attached  Servant  of 
the  King  —  General  Terror  —  My  Illness;  the  Duke 
sends  to  me  —  Anxious  to  get  away  to  England  —  The 
Duke  unable  to  assist  me  —  I  upbraid  him  for  his  con- 
duct in  voting  for  the  King's  Death  —  His  Defence  — 
The  Countess  de  Perigord's  horror  for  her  situation  — 
Begs  my  aid  to  get  away  —  Monsieur  de  Malesherbes  — 
Another  Domiciliary  Visit  —  Madame  de  Pcrigord  con- 
cealed in  a  Closet  —  Melancholy  position  of  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  —  I  am  arrested 127 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VI 

PAGE 

Taken  to  the  Guard-Room,  where  I  pass  the  night  — 
Walked  between  Soldiers  to  the  Mairie  to  be  examined 

—  The  Duchesse  de  Grammont  and  the  Duchesse  du 
Chatelet  before  the  Mairie  also  —  Their  miserable  Fate 

—  Frightful  Scenes  at  the  Feuillants  —  Encounter  the 
Duke  of  Orlears  there  —  My  examination  and  alarm  — 
Brutality  of  Chabot,  the  Capuchin  —  Civility  of  Verg- 
niaud  —  Letter  of  Sir  Godfrey  Webster  —  I  am  allowed 
to  depart,  but  stopped  by  Chabot  —  The  Duke  of  Or- 
leans arrested,  with  the  Comte  de  Beaujolais  —  Affect- 
ing Scene  between  the  Due  de  Biron  and  the  Comte 
de  Montpensier  —  The  Due  de  Biron  sent  to  St.  Pelagie 

—  Madame  de  Perigord  leaves  her  Children  with  me  — 
I  am  sent  to  St.  Pelagie  —  Meet  Madame  du  Barri  — 
Her  Violence  at  her  Execution  —  Fatal  Letter  of  Mr. 
Vernon  —  I  am  released 153 

CHAPTER  Vn 

My  Flight,  on  being  warned  that  I  am  to  be  arrested  — 
Incidents  of  my  Flight  —  Reach  Meudon  —  I  am  pur- 
sued and  sent  to  the  Prison  of  the  Recollets,  at  Ver- 
sailles—  Brutality  of  the  Section  —  A  Condemned  Jew 

—  Dr.  Gem  imprisoned  in  the  same  room  with  me  — 
Our  miserable  Food  —  I  procure  the  discharge  of  Dr. 
Gem  —  Deprived    of    everything,    and    pray    for    Death 

—  Brutality  of  Gaoler  —  Young  Samson  the  Execu- 
tioner—  the  Queen's  Death 175 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Death  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  —  Melancholy  feelings  on 
the  Event  —  Nothing  found  among  his  Papers  concern- 


1  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

ing  me  —  Crasseau  the  Deputy  —  His  Brutality  to  me 

—  Imprisoned  in  the  Queen's  Stables  —  The  Prisoners 
from  Nantes  —  Conveyed  to  Paris  —  Insulted  by  the 
way  —  General  Hoche  —  Madame  Beauharnais  —  Ma- 
dame Custine  —  The  Marquis  de  Beauharnais  is  sent 
to  the  same  Prison  —  Affecting  parting  between  the 
Count  de  Custine  and  his  Wife  —  The  Reign  of  Terror 

—  Santerre  —  I  am  released 195 


I\OteS     ..•••••'*'•'      ••:      t«!      -♦!     !•)      ■•!      t»i     w      •    221 


INTRODUCTION 

The  memoirs  of  Miss  Elliott  offer  a  twofold  in- 
terest: they  show  the  attitude  of  the  Due  d'Or- 
leans,  Philippe-Egalite,  during  the  course  of  the 
French  Revolution,  and  they  present  a  picture  of 
the  revolutionary  prisons.  This  last  picture  Is  not 
always  accurate.  Miss  Elliott  has  for  the  Due, 
whose  mistress  she  had  been  and  whose  friend  she 
continued  to  be,  an  affectionate  good-will:  it 
would  be  childish  to  deny  it,  but  making  allowance 
for  this  good-will  and  the  Inaccuracies  pointed 
out,  these  memoirs  retain  a  genuine  historical 
value. 

As  stated  In  the  preface  to  the  first  edition,  it 
was  the  Prince  of  Wales  who  introduced  Miss 
Elliott  to  the  Due  d'Orleans.  After  a  dissolute 
youth,  the  future  Philippe-Egalite,  had  one  day 
discovered  that  he  was  passionately  fond  of  Eng- 
land. It  is  possible  that  his  mind  was  not  quite 
clear  as  to  what  was  most  worthy  of  admiration: 

9 


no  INTRODUCTION 

the  clubs,  the  English  frock-coat,  the  horse-races 
or  the  beautiful  example  of  order  and  of  liberty 
presented  by  English  Institutions. 

The  Due  d'Orleans  was,  through  his  marriage 
with  Mademoiselle  de  Penthievre,  the  wealthiest 
of  French  princes.  He  was  tall,  strong,  and,  al- 
though of  heavy  features,  did  not  lack  majesty. 
He  enjoyed  the  sports,  was  with  Lauzun,  his  favo- 
rite, one  of  the  leaders  of  anglomania  recently 
made  fashionable  by  them.  Very  popular  In  Lon- 
don and  making  frequent  stays  there,  it  Is  difficult 
to  give  the  exact  date  when  the  due  d'Orleans  made 
the  conquest  of  Miss  Elliott.  The  year  1786  has 
been  mentioned,  but  at  that  date  the  due  d'Orleans 
was  already  the  lover  of  Madame  de  Buffon,  the 
last  of  his  mistresses  and  the  only  one  to  whom  he 
remained  faithful.  However  that  may  be,  it  Is  in 
1786  that  Miss  Elliott  came  to  France. 

The  Palais-Royal  offered  at  that  time  a  rather 
novel  spectacle :  it  was  the  hour  when  the  first  at- 
tempt towards  an  opposition  to  the  monarchy  was 
being  organized.  Out  of  hatred  to  Marie-Antoi- 
nette with  whom  he  had  been  quite  friendly  when 
she  was  Dauphine,  whose  lover.  It  was  said,  he  had 


INTRODUCTION  II 

tried  to  become,  the  due  d'  Orleans  had  boldly 
thrown  himself  Into  the  first  Fronde  against  the 
king, —  that  of  the  Parliaments.  There  was  noth- 
ing very  grave  In  this :  he  had  been  refused  the  post 
of  grand  amiral,  he  had  Intentionally  been  kept 
away  from  the  government  affairs,  his  feelings  had 
been  hurt  In  matters  of  precedence,  and  In  showing 
his  vexation  and  playing  the  liberal  prince,  he  only 
followed  the  ordinary  tradition  of  the  younger  sons 
of  the  royal  house.  It  may  be  believed  that  the 
due  d'Orleans  obeyed  specially  the  counsels  of  the 
Genlis  family  In  whose  hands  he  had  then  abdi- 
cated his  entire  authority.  Madame  de  Sillery  de 
Genlis,  having  been  his  sweetheart  ten  years  be- 
fore, had  shown  towards  him  an  affection  wholly 
maternal  and  gently  authoritative.  Their  first 
bonds  had  been  untied  without  tears,  for  the  sweet- 
heart had  kept  for  herself  what  was  Important  to 
her  ambition  and  her  love  of  intrigue, —  an  almost 
absolute  influence  over  the  mind  of  the  due  d'Or- 
leans. 

Madame  de  Genlis  had  had  her  husband  ap- 
pointed captain  of  the  guards  and  her  brother 
chancellor  to  the  due,  thus  occupying  all  the  roads 


12  INTRODUCTION 

to  his  confidence.  She  had  reserved  to  herself  the 
functions  of  gouvernante  to  the  children  of  Or- 
leans and  was  then  bringing  up  in  a  pavilion  of  the 
convent  of  Bellechasse,  and  as  far  from  the  duchess 
as  It  was  possible  for  her  to  do ;  the  due  de  Chartres 
(the  future  Louis-Philippe),  the  due  de  Montpen- 
sier,  the  comte  de  Beaujolals  and  Mademoiselle  de 
Chartres  who  became  Madame  Adelaide.  The 
salon  of  Madame  de  Genlis  was  opened  only  to 
those  entertaining  her  views,  for  It  was  not  by 
chance  that  a  dense  group  of  future  members  of  the 
Convention  met  there. 

It  Is  certain  that  Miss  Elliott  had  no  share  in 
these  political  Intrigues.  When  she  arrived  In 
France  she  was  no  longer  the  mistress  of  the  due 
for  whom  she  had  no  doubt  only  been  one  of  those 
fancies  on  which  the  duchess  d'Orleans  closed  her 
eyes.  To  having  been  a  friend  without  Influence, 
Miss  Elliott  owes  her  being  spared  in  the  vindictive 
memoirs  of  JVIadame  de  Genlis.  Wealthy,  thanks 
to  two  pensions,  bestowed  by  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  her  husband's  family.  Miss  Elliott,  having 
confided  her  daughter  to  the  care  of  Lady  Chol- 
mondeley,  was  free :  she  was  pretty  and  was  not 


INTRODUCTION  13 

thirty  years  of  age  when  the  revolutionary  era 
opened.  Through  her  former  Intimacy  with  the 
due  d'Orleans,  she  found  herself  attached  to  all 
those  who  had  joined  their  fortune  with  that  of 
the  due.  BIron,  who  had  for  the  second  time 
made  the  name  of  Lauzun  famous,  the  due  de 
Liancourt,  M.  de  Talleyrand,  the  comte  de  La- 
marck, the  friend  of  Mirabeau,  the  comte  de 
Noailles  and  that  squadron  of  pretty  and  amorous 
women,  Madame  de  Buffon,  the  Marquise  de 
Colgny,  Aimee  de  Coigny,  ^'  la  reine  de  Paris," 
and  others ;  —  all  those,  men  and  women,  who  had 
a  common  resentment  against  the  Court  and  Marle- 
Antolnette. 

People  are  easily  mistaken  regarding  the  ideas 
which  animated  the  nobility  on  the  eve  of  the 
Revolution.  There  were  two  distinct  currents. 
Some  wished  to  free  themselves  from  that  depend- 
ence wherein,  since  Richelieu,  the  King  held  them 
and  to  win  with  him  or  against  him  a  place  in  the 
government.  This  fraction  of  the  nobility,  with 
instincts  clearly  feudal,  launched  Into  the  Revolu- 
tion smilingly  —  a  new  Fronde  was  about  to  begin 
—  and  at  the  start,  as  was  classical.  It  went  to  ask 


^4  INTRODUCTION 

the  assistance  of  the  Foreign  powers.  The  other 
fraction,  which  affected  sober  airs  and  claimed  to 
be  inspired  by  the  school  of  Jean  Jacques,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Liancourts  or  the  La  Rochefou- 
caulds,  had  no  revolutionary  designs.  Its  aim 
was  simply  to  establish  the  English  Constitution  in 
France  by  giving  to  the  House  of  Peers  consider- 
able power  in  the  councils  of  the  government. 

Miss  Elliott,  and  there  is  no  doubt  of  it,  did  not 
trouble  herself  in  anyway  about  her  friends 
opinions;  not  being  admitted  to  the  secret  meet- 
ings of  Passy,  nor  to  those  of  Montrouge,  she 
thought  that  It  was  only  a  question  of  a  series  of 
riots,  which  would  be  quieted  at  the  proper  time, 
and  in  connection  with  which  the  name  of  the  due 
d'Orleans  was  used  without  authority. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  now  known  that  the  due 
d'Orleans  took  an  important  part  in  the  revolu- 
tionary movement.  His  part  was  less  that  of  a 
leader  than  that  of  one  led,  but  the  results  remain. 
The  due  d'Orleans'  faction,  this  entourage  of  the 
due  on  which  Miss  Elliott  places  the  burden  of 
responsibility,  being  carefully  analyzed  is  reduced 
to  a  single  man,  Laclos.     Laclos,  In  that  terrible 


INTRODUCTION  1^5 

game  In  whIcH  so  many  heads  were  to  be  the  stake, 
supplied  the  required  clear  intelligence  and  strong 
will.  The  problem  presented  itself  plainly  to  this 
officer  of  Engineers,  experienced  in  the  study  of  the 
sciences :  It  was  necessary  to  group  all  disappointed 
or  newly  born  ambitions  around  the  due  d'Orleans, 
sow  gold  to  produce  popularity,  slander  the  queen 
and  her  entourage  so  as  finally  to  put  the  king,  al- 
ready deprived  of  the  support  of  a  portion  of  his 
nobility  and  at  war  with  his  Parliament,  alone,  face 
to  face  with  the  people. 

The  due  d'Orleans  was  then  to  come  forward  as 
lieutenant  of  the  Kingdom  to  interpose  between  the 
nation  and  the  King,  and  they  would  then  control 
the  government.  From  Mirabeau  to  Talleyrand, 
all  those  who  aspired  to  power  saw  matters  in  the 
same  light.  Owing  to  the  reluctance  of  Lafayette 
and  Ballly,  this  plot  only  resulted  in  the  due  d'Or- 
leans departure  for  London  after  the  October  days. 
Laclos  works  out  a  second  plan:  the  Constitution 
is  based  on  two  contradictory  principles:  the  na- 
tion, from  which  all  power  emanates;  the  King, 
who  does  not  receive  his  power  from  the  nation. 
Between  these  two  sovereign  entities,  strife  is  in- 


i6  INTRODUCTION 

evitable,  one  of  these  must  disappear:  the  Orleans 
faction  exerts  itself  so  that  it  may  be  the  King. 
What  is  necessary  to  accomplish  this  end?  Death, 
which  the  plethoric  condition  of  Louis  XVI  and 
his  recluse  existence,  new  to  him,  make  possible, 
even  still  less  —  a  rash  action  from  the  King, — 
the  flight.  On  the  morrow  of  Varennes,  it  seems 
that  their  hopes  are  realized  and  that  the  forfeiture 
of  the  throne  and  the  regency  of  the  due  d'Orleans 
are  about  to  be  proclaimed  at  the  same  time.  The 
due's  indecision  and  the  failure  of  the  Champ  de 
Mars  attempt  mark  the  end  of  the  d'Orleans 
party.  From  that  time  on  he  is  the  prisoner  of  the 
Revolution  for  the  same  reason  that  Louis  XVI 
is  a  prisoner.  When  Philippe-Egalite,  from  con- 
cessions to  forfeitures,  goes  so  far  as  to  vote  the 
King's  death  in  the  hope  of  saving  his  own  head,  it 
will  be  too  late:  shortly  after  that,  his  son's  and 
Dumouriez's  treason  result  in  his  sentence  of  death. 
Miss  Elliott,  without  exactly  placing  the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  acts  of  a  prince  without  dignity 
or  courage,  understood  that  her  friend  the  due 
d'Orleans,  the  Prince  Rouge,  had  been  more  weak 
than  criminal,  as  much  sinned  against  as  he  was  a 


INTRODUCTION  17 

sinner.  She  pities  him,  and  bears  him  no  grudge 
for  the  painful  calvary  to  which  their  former  at- 
tachment has  led  her.  But  perhaps  she  somewhat 
exaggerates  the  hardships  she  suffered. 

If  it  Is  a  fact  that  from  1786  to  1801  she  re- 
mained In  France,  that  she  was  kept  under  surveil- 
lance during  the  Terror  and  a  companion  In  cap- 
tivity of  old  Dr.  Gem  at  Versailles,  her  name  does 
not  appear  on  any  of  the  registers  of  the  Paris 
prisons. 

On  her  stay  in  different  prisons,  she  gives  pre- 
cise details,  but  the  text  of  her  journal  contains  in- 
accuracies which  it  Is  the  duty  of  the  historian  to 
notice.  Let  us  quote  an  example :  the  Carmes 
Prison.  Miss  Elliott  reports  a  conversation  which 
she  had  with  Hoche  at  the  Carmes  Prison  shortly 
before  the  coming  of  the  marquise  de  Beauharnais; 
but,  it  Is  only  forty  days  after  the  husband  of 
Josephine  that  General  Hoche  was  imprisoned  In 
the  Carmes.  It  was  not  in  prison,  but  long  before, 
that  Josephine  and  her  husband  become  reconciled; 
Custlne,  who  was  executed  in  January,  1794  and, 
whom  our  author  mentioned  as  having  been  in  the 
Carmes,  was  arrested  at  his  residence,  rue  de  Lille, 


i8  INTRODUCTION 

taken  directly  to  the  Conciergerle  and  from  there 
to  the  scaffold :  Hurrop,  whom  Miss  Elliott  pre- 
sents as  a  student  of  the  Irish  college,  guillotined  at 
eighteen,  was  really  thirty-two  and  was  in  business. 

If  the  English  editors'  statement  that  these  me- 
moirs were  written  after  1801  is  accepted  as  exact, 
it  is  possible  that  these  inaccuracies  of  detail  may 
be  imputed  to  failure  of  memory,  or  it  may  be  that 
Miss  Elliott,  having  so  often  repeated  her  misfor- 
tunes during  the  Revolution,  was  unable  to  resist 
the  not  unusual  temptation  to  increase  the  number 
of  anecdotes. 

Whatever  may  be  the  cause  of  these  imperfec- 
tions, Miss  Elliott's  journal  nevertheless,  contains 
precious  details.  The  Information  It  supplies  on 
a  period  but  little  known  of  the  private  life  of 
Phlllppe-Egallte  is  particularly  valuable.  Even  if 
it  were  admitted  that  certain  episodes  of  the  life  In 
revolutionary  prisons  had  been  suggested  to  Miss 
Elliott  and  not  lived  by  her,  the  ensemble  of  her 
account  have  none  the  less  an  appreciable  value. 

The  names  of  Chansenets,  d'Araij,  Sennason  and 
Mllor,  which  appear  In  the  text,  should  read: 
Champcenets,  d'Aray,  Senozan  and  Milon. 


PREFACE 

TO    FIRST    EDITION 

The  following  narrative  of  the  Life  of  Mrs. 
Dalrymple  Elliott,  during  some  of  the  most  event- 
ful scenes  of  the  great  French  Revolution,  was 
composed  at  the  express  desire  of  his  Majesty 
King  George  the  Third.  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir 
David)  Dundas,  physician  to  the  king,  was  also 
Mrs.  Elliott's  medical  attendant;  and  was  in  the 
habit  of  relating,  during  his  visits  to  the  Royal 
Family,  some  of  the  incidents  and  anecdotes  which 
that  lady  had  communicated  to  him  at  various 
times,  in  the  course  of  conversation.  The  King 
became  so  much  interested  that  he  desired  Mr. 
Dundas  to  request  Mrs.  Elliott  to  commit  to  paper 
the  story  of  her  Life  in  Paris,  and  to  send  it  to 
him.  With  this  intimation  she  readily  complied, 
and  accordingly  the  narrative  was  conveyed  by  Mr. 
Dundas  to  Windsor,  sheet  by  sheet  as  it  was  writ- 

19 


20  PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION 

ten  by  her  during  her  residence  at  Twickenham, 
after  her  return  from  France,  at  the  Peace  of 
Amiens,  In  1801. 

Of  her  previous  history  Mrs.  Dalrymple  Elliott 
has  left  no  record;  but  the  Editor  has  gleaned  a 
few  facts  relative  to  her  birth  and  earlier  years 
from  those  who  knew  her  Intimately  during  her 
residence  In  England,  at  the  period  when  she  drew 
up  the  following  narrative,  which  may  be  Interest- 
ing to  the  reader.  She  Is  represented  as  a  lady 
eminently  gifted  by  nature  with  beauty  of  person, 
and  grace  and  elegance  of  manners;  and  she  was 
wont  to  attract  the  admiration  of  all  who  ap- 
proached her,  while  she  conciliated  the  regard  and 
affection  of  those  who  were  more  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  her. 

Grace  Dalrymple,  the  youngest  of  three  daugh- 
ters of  Hew  Dalrymple,  Esq.,  a  branch  of,  and 
next  in  succession  to,  the  noble  family  of  Stair,  was 
born  in  Scotland,  about  1765.*  Her  father,  a 
barrister,  established  his  reputation  by  gaining  for 
the  plaintiff  the  celebrated  Douglas  and  Hamilton 
cause,  which  Horace  Walpole  notices  as  one  of 

*  Miss  Elliott  was  born  in  1760,  not  in  1765. 


PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION         21 

the  most  remarkable  of  that  period.  He  was  af- 
terwards appointed  Attorney-General  to  the  Grena- 
das.  He  deserted  his  wife,  a  woman  of 
remarkable  beauty,  a  daughter  of  an  officer  in  the 
army,  who  returned  to  her  father's  house,  which 
she  never  afterwards  quitted,  and  where  she  gave 
birth  to  this  her  youngest  daughter,  Grace  Dal- 
rymple.  This  child  was  afterwards  sent  for  her 
education  to  a  convent  in  France,  where  she  re- 
mained for  some  years,  being  withdrawn  when  she 
was  about  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  brought  to  her 
father's  house.  At  that  time  it  was  not  the  cus- 
tom, as  In  these  later  days,  for  young  persons  to 
mix  in  evening  festivities ;  but  at  one  of  the  suppers 
given  at  her  father's  house.  Miss  Dalrymple  was 
introduced.  On  this  occasion.  Sir  John  Elliott 
was  present,  a  man  older  than  her  father ;  who  was 
so  struck  with  her  beauty  that  he  made  her  an 
offer  of  marriage,  which  was  accepted  by  her  with 
the  same  inconsiderate  haste  with  which  it  was 
proffered.  Such  an  unsuitable  and  Ill-assorted 
marriage,  as  might  naturally  be  supposed,  was 
productive  of  nothing  but  unhapplness.  There 
was  such  a  total  dissimilarity  of  tastes,  as  well  as 


22  PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION 

of  age,  that  there  never  existed  any  affection  be- 
tween them. 

Grace  Dalrymple,  now  Mrs.  Elliott,  mixed 
much  In  general  society;  and  being  so  exquisitely 
lovely,  very  soon  found  admirers  amongst  those 
more  suited  to  her  age.  In  an  evil  hour  for  her, 
she  unhappily  became  entangled  in  an  Intrigue ;  and 
her  husband,  after  some  Indecent  treatment,  re- 
sorted to  a  court  of  law  at  once  to  procure  a  di- 
vorce, and  to  punish  the  author  of  their  mutual 
wrongs.  The  first  object  was  easily  obtained, 
while  the  second  resulted  In  a  verdict  of  12,000/. 
damages.  In  the  meantime  her  brother  removed 
her  to  a  convent  In  France,  assigning  as  a  reason 
for  the  course  which  had  been  adopted,  that  the 
lady  was  about  to  contract  an  unsuitable  marriage. 

Here  Mrs.  Elliott  remained  until  she  was 
brought  over  to  England  by  Lord  Cholmondelcy. 
She  was  subsequently  introduced  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  who  had  been  struck  with  the  exquisite 
beauty  of  her  portrait,  which  he  had  accidently 
seen  at  Houghton.  So  celebrated  was  she  for  her 
personal  charms  that  there  are  several  portraits  of 
her  by  eminent  painters  still  in  existence,  among 


PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION         23 

others,  one  by  Cosway,  which  embellishes  this  vol- 
ume, another,  by  Gainsborough,  at  Lord  Cholmon- 
deley's. 

The  young  Prince  was  immediately  fascinated 
with  her  beauty,  and  a  most  Intimate  connection 
succeeded.  The  result  was  the  birth  of  a  female 
child,  who  was  christened  at  Marylebone  church, 
under  the  names  of  Georgiana  Augusta  Frederica 
Seymour, —  Lord  Cholmondeley  and  one  or  two 
other  persons  only  being  present.  While  Mrs. 
Elliott  remained  with  the  Prince,  she  of  course 
mingled  in  the  brilliant  society  about  him,  and 
among  many  other  persons  of  distinction  became 
acquainted  with  the  ill-fated  Duke  of  Orleans, 
afterwards  known  as  Philippe  Egalite  so  often 
mentioned  in  her  memoirs.  His  fondness  for  Eng- 
land, its  people,  and  its  institutions  was  well  known, 
and  at  that  time  he  was  popular  here,  especially  in 
sporting  society. 

We  cannot  ascertain  with  certainty  when  Mrs. 
Elliott  again  left  England  to  reside  in  Paris;  but 
probably  it  was  about  the  year  1786.  Her  little 
daughter  was  left  in  charge  of  Lord  and  Lady 
Cholmondeley,  but  was  occasionally  permitted  to 


24  PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION 

visit  her  mother  at  Paris.  On  these  occasions  she 
was  always  accompanied  by  a  nurse  and  a  footman 
of  Lord  Cholmondeley's;  but  she  never  resided 
any  length  of  time  with  her  mother.  The  Prince 
of  Wales,  It  is  said,  made  Mrs.  Elliott  a  handsome 
allowance,  and  she  derived  200/.  a  year  also  from 
her  husband's  family.  With  these  few  prefatory 
remarks  we  now  leave  her  to  tell  her  own  interest- 
ing story. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Grace  Dalrymple  Elliott  from  the  portrait  by 

Cosway Frontispiece 

FACING   PAGE 

The  Attack  on  the  Bastille  and  Murder  of  de  Launay     43 

Lafayette 70 

The  Attack  on  the  Tuileries 78 

The  Duke  of  Orleans   (Philippe  Egalite)      .      .      .110 

Bailly,  Mayor  of  Paris 154 

General  Hoche 200 

Charlotte  Corday 208 


CHAPTER  I 


DURING   THE   REIGN  OF 
TERROR 

CHAPTER  I 

In  the  year  1789,  July  the  12th,  which  was  on 
a  Sunday,  I  went,  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  Prince 
Louis  D'Aremberg,  and  others  whose  names  I  do 
not  recollect,  to  fish  and  dine  at  the  Duke's  cha- 
teau of  Raincy,^  in  the  Forest  of  Bondy,  near 
Paris.  We  returned  to  Paris  In  the  evening, 
meaning  to  go  to  the  Comedie  Italienne.  We  had 
left  Paris  at  eleven  o'clock  in  perfect  tranquillity; 
but  on  our  return  at  eight  o'clock  at  the  Porte  St. 
Martin  (where  the  Duke's  town-carriage  was  wait- 
ing for  him,  and  my  carriage  for  me),  my  servant 
told  me  that  I  could  not  go  to  the  play,  as  the 
theatres  were  all  shut  by  orders  from  the  police; 
that  Paris  was  all  in  confusion  and  tumult;  that 
the  Prince  de  Lambesc  had  entered  the  gardens  of 
the  Tuilerles,  and  put  all  the  people  to  flight;  that 

29 


30      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

he  had  killed  an  old  man  [not  true]  ;  that  the 
French  Guards  and  the  regiment  Royal  Allemand 
(which  was  the  Prince  of  Lambesc's  own  regi- 
ment) ,  were  at  that  moment  fighting  on  the  Boule- 
vards of  the  Chaussee  D'Antin,  opposite  the  depot 
of  the  French  Guards;  that  many  cavaliers  and 
horses  had  been  killed;  and  that  the  mob  were  car- 
rying about  the  streets  the  busts  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  and  of  Necker,  crying,  ^'  Vive  le  Due  d' 
Orleans!     Vive  Necker!  " 

When  my  servant  had  given  me  this  informa- 
tion, I  begged  the  Duke  not  to  go  into  Paris  in  his 
own  carriage,  as  I  thought  it  would  be  very  im- 
prudent for  him  to  appear  in  the  streets  at  such  a 
moment;  and  I  offered  him  my  carriage.  On 
hearing  of  the  events  in  Paris  he  seemed  much  sur- 
prised and  shocked;  he  told  me  that  he  hoped  it 
would  be  nothing,  and  that  my  servant,  through 
fear,  must  have  exaggerated  the  events.  I  thought 
that  the  Duke  meant  to  show  himself  to  the  mob, 
and  really  had  projects  to  make  a  party  had  he 
done  so,  but  I  never  saw  more  unfeigned  surprise 
than  his  when  he  heard  that  Paris  was  in  such  a 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      31 

situation.  He  then  got  Into  my  carriage,  and 
begged  me  to  set  him  down  at  the  Salon  des 
Princes,  a  club  frequented  by  all  the  nobility,  and 
where  he  said  he  should  meet  people  who  would 
tell  him  the  news.  When  we  got  to  the  club,  how- 
ever, it  was  also  shut  by  a  police  order,  as  was 
every  other  club  in  Paris.  We  then  ordered  my 
coachman  to  drive  to  the  Duke's  house  at  Mon- 
ceau,  but  as  the  troops  were  actually  at  that  mo- 
ment fighting  on  the  Boulevards,  and  the  ground 
was  covered  with  dead  and  wounded  men  and 
horses,  we  were  obliged  to  go  by  the  Carrousel, 
and  along  the  Tuilerles  garden-wall  to  the  Place 
Louis  Quinze,  which  we  found  full  of  troops,  both 
horse  and  foot.  They  were  commanded  by  the 
Mareschal  de  Broglie,  and  had  been  for  some  days 
before  encamped  in  the  Park  of  St.  Cloud,  and  had 
marched  into  Paris  that  evening. 

I  never  in  my  life  shall  forget  the  awful  but 
beautiful  appearance  the  Place  Louis  Quinze  pre- 
sented at  that  moment.  The  troops  were  under 
arms,  and  the  silence  was  so  great  that  If  a  pin 
had  fallen  it  might  have  been  heard.     They  al- 


2,2      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

lowed  no  carriages  to  pass  without  the  name  of 
the  person  being  given.  I  gave  mine,  and  my 
horses  were  conducted  through  the  ranks  of  cavalry 
at  a  foot's  pace.  They  had  no  idea  that  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  was  in  my  carriage.  We  went  directly 
to  the  Duke's  house  at  Monceau.^  By  this  time 
it  was  about  a  quarter  past  nine  o'clock. 

On  the  Duke's  arrival  he  found  his  servants  in 
the  greatest  confusion  and  uneasiness,  as  nobody 
knew  at  the  Palais  Royal  where  he  was  gone;  and 
a  report  had  been  circulated  in  Paris  that  day 
that  he  had  been  put  into  the  Bastille,  and  be- 
headed by  the  King's  orders.  They  told  him  that 
all  his  friends  and  the  Princes  of  the  Blood  had 
been  at  the  Palais  Royal  and  at  Monceau  to  in- 
quire about  him ;  and  that  they  were  in  the  greatest 
consternation  and  anxiety.  He,  however,  ordered 
his  Suisse  to  let  nobody  see  him  that  night  except 
the  Due  de  Biron;  that  he  would  sleep  at  Mon- 
ceau, but  that  if  Madame  de  Buffon  ^  came  he 
w^ould  see  her.  I  asked  him  "  what  he  meant  to 
do?"  He  said  that  he  was  very  undecided,  but 
that  he  should  like  to  know  what  really  was  going 
on  in  Paris,  and  what  they  were  doing,  although 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      33 

by  this  time  his  own  people  had  confirmed  what 
my  servant  had  said.  He  wished  Prince  Louis 
D'Aremberg  could  see  the  Due  de  Biron;  that  he 
then  would  hear  something  more,  which  would  de- 
cide his  conduct  for  that  night. 

Carriages  were  not  allowed  to  pass  through  the 
streets  of  Paris  after  ten  o'clock.  As  the  Duke 
wished  to  be  alone,  I  went  with  Prince  Louis  to 
the  Due  de  Biron's  on  foot.  We  saw  many  groups 
assembled  in  all  the  streets  near  the  Tuileries  and 
Place  Louis  Quinze.  I  was  very  anxious  about 
the  Duke's  situation,  and  wished  much  to  know  the 
public  opinion  about  him;  we  therefore  mixed  in 
the  groups,  and  of  course  heard  different  sides  of 
the  question :  some  were  very  violent  in  the  Duke's 
favour,  others  as  violent  against  him,  these  latter 
accusing  him  of  wanting  to  dethrone  the  King. 

This  accusation  shocked  me  so  much,  that  I  re- 
turned directly  to  Monceau,  and  told  him  of  what 
horrors  they  accused  him.  I  found  Madame  de 
Buffon  with  him,  and  as  her  politics  and  mine  were 
very  different,  I  called  the  Duke  into  the  garden, 
and  we  walked  there  till  two  o'clock.  I  entreated 
him  on  my  knees  to  go  directly  to  Versailles,  and 


34      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

not  to  leave  the  King  whilst  Paris  was  in  such  a 
state  of  tumult;  and  by  that  conduct  to  show  the 
King  that  the  mob  made  use  of  his  name  without 
his  knowledge  or  consent,  and  to  express  how 
shocked  he  was  at  what  was  going  on,  which  I 
really  thought  he  was.  He  said  that  "  he  could 
not  go  at  so  late  an  hour;  that  he  had  heard  that 
the  avenues  were  guarded,  and  that  the  King 
would  be  In  bed,  and  could  not  be  seen  at  that 
hour,"  but  he  gave  me  his  word  of  honour  that 
he  would  go  at  seven  o'clock  In  the  morning. 

We  did  not  find  the  Due  de  BIron,  nor  did  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  see  him  that  night.  He  had 
gone  to  Versailles  in  the  evening,  thinking  to  find 
the  Duke  there,  or  to  hear  of  him,  as  he  had  a 
house  In  the  Avenues,  besides  his  apartments  In 
the  Palace,  as  first  Prince  of  the  Blood.  I  then 
went  home,  my  house  being  near  his;  and  I  heard 
in  the  morning  that  the  Duke  had  gone  to  Ver- 
sailles. 

On  the  Monday  the  Comte  D'ArtoIs,  the  Prince 
of  Conde,  and  the  Duke  of  Bourbon  made  their 
escape.  They  did  perfectly  right,  for  they  cer- 
tainly would  have  been  murdered;  but  they  did  not 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      35 

at  that  moment  mean  or  expect,  perhaps,  to  leave 
their  country  for  ever. 

All  that  day,  which  was  the  13th  July,  Paris 
was  a  scene  of  riot  and  horror.  The  murder  of 
Messrs.  De  Foulon*  and  Flesselles,  Prevots  des 
Marchands,  is  too  well  known  for  me  to  relate.  I 
was  unfortunate  enough  to  try  to  go  to  my  jewel- 
ler's that  evening,  and  I  met  in  the  Rue  St.  Honore 
the  soldiers  of  the  French  Guards  carrying  Mon- 
sieur de  Foulon's  head  by  the  light  of  flambeaux. 
They  thrust  the  head  Into  my  carriage:  at  the 
horrid  sight  I  screamed  and  fainted  away,  and  had 
I  not  had  an  English  lady  with  me,  who  had  cour- 
age enough  to  harangue  the  mob,  and  to  say  that 
I  was  an  English  patriot,  they  certainly  would  have 
murdered  me;  for  they  began  to  accuse  me  of  be- 
ing one  of  poor  Foulon's  friends,  and  of  wishing 
the  people  to  live  on  hay,  of  which  they  had  ac- 
cused him.  I  did  not  attempt  to  go  further,  but 
returned  home  almost  dead.  I  was  put  to  bed 
and  bled,  and  indeed  was  very  ill. 

I  soon  afterwards  received  a  note  from  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  begging  me  to  go  to  him  di- 
rectly at  Monceau,  but  I  sent  to  the  Duke  telling 


36      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

him  my  situation.  He  came  to  me  immediately, 
and  was  much  alarmed  to  see  me  so  ill.  I  asked 
him  how  he  had  been  received  at  Versailles?  and 
why  he  had  returned  so  soon,  as  the  States  were 
then  at  Versailles  in  the  Jeu  de  Paume,  and  he 
had  apartments  in  the  Chateau  ?  He  told  me  that 
on  his  arrival,  he  went  directly  to  the  King's  levee, 
who  was  just  getting  up.  The  King  took  no  no- 
tice of  him ;  but  as  it  was  the  custom  for  the  first 
Prince  of  the  Blood  to  give  the  King  his  shirt 
when  he  was  present,  the  gentilhomme  de  la  cham- 
hre  gave  the  shirt  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  put 
over  the  King's  head.  The  Duke  approached  the 
King,  who  asked  him  "  what  he  wanted?  "  The 
Duke,  in  passing  the  shirt,  said,  "  I  come  to  take 
your  Majesty's  commands."  The  King  answered 
him,  with  great  harshness,  "  I  want  nothing  of  you 
—  return  from  whence  you  came."  The  Duke 
was  very  much  hurt  and  very  angry;  and,  leaving 
the  room,  went  to  the  States,  which  I  think  were 
then  sitting  In  the  Jeu  de  Paume;  and  he  returned 
to  Paris  at  night. 

He  was  much  more  out  of  humour  than  I  had 
ever  seen   him.     He   said,   that   "  the   King  and 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      37 

Queen  disliked  him,  and  that  they  would  endeavour 
to  poison  him;  that  if  he  wished  ever  so  much  to 
be  of  use  to  the  King  and  Queen,  they  never  would 
believe  him  to  be  sincere;  and  that  he  never  would 
go  near  them  again,  for  he  thought  himself  very 
cruelly  used,  as  he  really  meant  to  be  of  use  to  the 
King;  and  had  he  been  well  received  when  he  went 
to  the  levee,  things  might  have  been  better  for  all 
parties,  but  now  he  should  make  friends  of  his 
own." 

From  that  very  instant.  Indeed,  I  thought  the 
Duke  became  more  violent  in  politics;  and  al- 
though I  never  heard  him  speak  with  disrespect 
of  the  King,  I  certainly  have  heard  him  very,  very 
violent  against  the  Queen.  I  am  very  sorry:  the 
Court  should  have  considered  the  Duke's  power, 
and  been  more  cautious  how  it  offended  him,  for  I 
am  certain  that  at  that  moment,  had  they  treated 
him  with  consideration,  and  shown  him  more  confi- 
dence, they  might  have  withdrawn  him  from  the 
horrible  creatures  who  surrounded  him  —  Talley- 
rand, Mirabeau,  the  Due  de  Blron,  the  Viscount  de 
Noallles,  the  Comte  de  la  Mark,  and  others  of 
less  note.     These  were  the  first  who  dragged  the 


38      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Duke  of  Orleans  into  all  the  horrors  of  the  Revo- 
lution, though  many  of  them  forsook  him  when 
they  saw  that  he  was  unfit  for  their  projects.  They 
left  him,  however,  in  worse  hands  than  their  own; 
surrounded  him  with  monsters  such  as  Laclos,  Mer- 
lin de  Douay,  and  others,  who  never  left  him  till 
they  had  plunged  him  in  dishonour,  and  led  him 
to  the  scaffold. 

The  Viscount  de  Noailles  told  me  himself,  that 
it  was  he  who  introduced  that  monster  Laclos  to 
the  Duke,  and  that  he  had  recommended  him  as 
his  secretary.  This  man  was  the  cause  of  all  the 
crimes  which  the  Orleanist  faction  has  been  sup- 
posed to  commit ;  and  I  am  certain  that  the  Duke 
knew  little  of  what  was  going  on  in  his  name. 

The  Duke  was  a  man  of  pleasure,  who  never 
could  bear  trouble  or  business  of  any  kind;  who 
never  read  or  did  anything  but  amuse  himself. 
At  that  moment  he  was  very  madly  in  love  with 
Madame  de  Buffon,  driving  her  about  all  day  in 
a  curricle,  and  at  all  the  spectacles  in  the  evening ; 
therefore  he  could  not  possibly  be  planning  con- 
spiracies. Indeed,  the  Duke's  misfortune  was  to 
have  been  surrounded  by  ambitious  men,  who  led 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      39 

him  to  their  purpose  by  degrees,  representing 
everything  to  him  In  a  favourable  light,  and  hurry- 
ing him  on  till  he  was  so  much  in  their  power  that 
he  could  not  recede.  Then  they  threatened  to 
leave  him,  if  he  did  not  consent  to  their  measures. 

I  am  certain  that  the  Duke  never  at  that  time 
had  an  idea  of  mounting  the  throne,  whatever  the 
views  of  his  factious  friends  might  have  been.  If 
they  could  have  placed  him  on  the  throne  of 
France,  I  suppose  they  hoped  to  govern  him  and 
the  country;  and  they  were  capable  of  any  horrors 
to  serve  their  own  purposes.  The  Due  de  BIron 
excepted  (and  he  was  too  much  led  by  Talley- 
rand), there  never  was  such  a  set  of  monsters  as 
the  unfortunate  Duke's  self-styled  friends,  who 
pretended  to  be  acting  for  the  good  of  their  coun- 
try, at  the  moment  they  were  plotting  its  total  ruin. 

Such  were  the  people  in  whose  hands  the  Court 
had  left  the  Duke.  I  say  left;  for  I  am  persuaded 
that  they  might,  at  the  beginning,  have  got  him  out 
of  the  hands  of  those  intriguants,  by  showing  him 
attention  and  confidence.  He  was  too  powerful  to 
be  neglected.  Would  that  they  had  thought  so 
too!  for  it  would  have  saved  the  blood  of  the  un- 


40      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

fortunate  Royal  Family,  and,  indeed,  perhaps  have 
saved  Europe  from  the  dreadful  scenes  it  has  ex- 
perienced since  this  horrid  French  Revolution. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  was  a  very  amiable  and 
very  high-bred  man,  with  the  best  temper  in  the 
world,  but  the  most  unfit  man  that  ever  existed 
to  be  set  up  as  a  chief  of  a  great  faction.  Neither 
his  mind,  his  abilities,  nor  indeed  his  education, 
fitted  him  for  such  an  elevation;  and  I  long  hoped 
that  his  heart  revolted  at  the  idea  of  bringing  his 
country  into  a  state  of  such  cruel  anarchy.  His 
factious  friends  found  this  out  at  last,  for  they 
never  could  get  him  to  attend  to  any  of  their  pro- 
jects; and  some  of  them  were  fortunate  enough  to 
make  a  sort  of  peace  with  the  Court;  leaving  the 
unhappy  Duke  in  the  hands  of  those  miscreants 
whom  they  had  placed  about  him,  who  brought 
others  with  them  like  themselves,  until  they  suc- 
ceeded in  his  total  ruin  and  dishonour. 

This  I  am  grieved  to  say;  for  I  had  known  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  for  years,  and  he  had  always  been 
good  and  kind  to  me  —  as  indeed  he  was  to  every- 
body who  approached  him.  I  had  a  sincere  friend- 
ship for  him,  and  would  have  given  my  life  to  save 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR     41 

him  from  dishonour.  Nobody  can  form  an  idea 
of  what  I  suffered  on  seeing  him  by  degrees  run- 
ning headlong  into  every  sort  of  disgrace;  for  I 
am  convinced,  from  the  bottom  of  my  soul,  that  he 
never  thought  or  intended  to  go  the  lengths  he  did. 
I  have  the  great  comfort  of  knowing,  that  from 
the  first  day  of  the  horrors  in  Paris,  I  always 
warned  the  Duke,  and  told  him  how  it  would  all 
end;  and  I  have  most  awfully  to  lament  the  little 
influence  I  possessed  over  him ;  for  I  ever  detested 
the  Revolution,  and  those  who  caused  it.  My 
conduct  at  that  time  is  well  known  to  all  the  King 
and  Queen's  friends,  and  by  the  French  Princes 
now  in  England,  who  will  do  me  justice,  though 
they  know  the  attachment  I  had  for  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  their  very  gentle  but  unfortunate  cousin. 
Even  when  I  saw  him  given  up  and  shunned  by 
everybody,  I  received  him,  and  tried  to  make  him 
sensible  of  his  errors.  He  appeared  sometimes  as 
if  he  felt  that  he  was  wrong,  and  I  flattered  myself 
that  he  would  leave  it  all;  but  he  went  from  me 
to  Madame  de  Buffon,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond, 
but  whose  politics,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  were  those  of 
Laclos  and  Merlin,  whom  he  always  found  at  her 


42      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

house,  where  he  dined  with  them  every  day.  They 
persuaded  the  pliant  Duke  that  all  which  was  go- 
ing on  was  for  the  good  of  his  country;  and  of 
course  what  I  had  said  was  forgotten.  To  my 
deep  regret,  I  found  he  was  so  surrounded  that  he 
could  not  escape  their  snares,  and  that  I  did  no 
good.  He  only  laughed  at  me,  saying  that  "  I 
was  a  proud  Scotchwoman,  who  loved  nothing  but 
kings  and  princes." 

These  thoughts  have  led  me  to  digress :  we  will 
now  return  to  the  events  which  followed  the  13th 
July,  1789.  On  the  morning  of  the  14th,  finding 
myself  able  to  get  up,  I  went  by  my  garden  to  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  at  Monceau,  to  try  to  see  him 
before  he  went  to  the  States.  At  his  gate  I  found 
a  hackney-coach  in  the  first  court,  which  surprised 
me,  as  hackney-coaches  were  not  admitted  there. 
I  went  directly  into  the  garden,  which  was  open. 
I  saw  the  Duke  in  the  room  conversing  with  two 
men.  On  seeing  me  he  came  out,  and  asked  me 
to  make  breakfast  for  him  and  the  Marquis  de 
Lafayette  and  Monsieur  Bailly,  two  of  his  friends. 
I  had  known  Lafayette  at  Strasbourg  and  in  Paris, 
but  had  never  seen  the  other  man. 

I  found  by  their  general  conversation  that  they 


H 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      43 

came  to  consult  the  Duke  about  the  events  which 
were  going  on  in  Paris,  and  I  heard  afterwards 
that  on  this  same  day  Lafayette  was  made  com- 
mander-in-chief, and  Bailly  mayor  of  Paris. 
Whilst  we  were  at  breakfast,  we  heard  the  cannon, 
and  the  report  of  the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  on 
which  these  gentlemen  went  off  in  a  great  hurry. 
The  Viscount  de  Noailles  and  the  Duke  de  Biron 
came  in  directly  afterwards,  and  as  I  saw  I  could 
have  no  conversation  with  the  Duke,  I  went  away. 
The  Duke  came  into  the  garden  with  me.  I  had 
only  time  to  entreat  him  to  go  once  more  to  the 
King  and  offer  his  services.  He  was  very  angry 
with  me,  and  asked  me  whether  "  I  was  paid  by 
his  enemies  to  give  him  such  advice?  "  and  left  me 
directly. 

I  went  home  extremely  unhappy,  for  I  then 
saw  that  he  was  at  open  war  with  the  King,  which 
was  what  I  dreaded  the  most,  as  from  that  moment 
I  considered  him  entirely  in  the  hands  of  his 
factious  followers.  In  the  course  of  that  day  the 
Bastille  was  taken,  Monsieur  de  Launay  and  others 
were  murdered,  every  sort  of  brutal  excess  was 
committed,  and  scenes  of  horror  were  occurring 
every  hour.     The  mob  obliged  everybody  to  wear 


44      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

a  green  cockade  for  two  days,  but  afterwards  they 
took  red,  white,  and  blue,  the  Orleans  livery. 
The  streets,  all  the  evening  of  the  14th,  were  in  an 
uproar;  the  French  Guards  and  all  those  who  were 
at  the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  were  mad  drunk, 
dragging  dead  bodies  and  heads  and  limbs  about 
the  streets  by  torch-light.  The  same  day  they 
went  to  the  country-house  of  M.  Berthier,^  the 
Intendant  of  Paris,  and  forced  him  into  a  cabriolet 
to  take  him  to  Paris.  When  they  got  near  Paris, 
a  fresh  mob,  with  some  of  the  French  Guards, 
met  him,  and  with  sabres  cut  off  the  top  of  the 
cabriolet.  They  then  beat  him  and  pelted  him, 
and  cut  his  legs  and  face.  When  they  got  him 
to  the  Porte  St.  Martin,  they  brought  his  father- 
in-law's  (M.  Foulon's)  head,  and  made  him  kiss 
it,  and  then  they  forced  him  to  get  out  of  the  cab- 
riolet, and  hung  him  up  to  a  lantern.  They  then 
dragged  his  body  through  the  streets,  and  carried 
his  head  to  the  house  of  his  father-in-law,  where 
Madame  Berthier,  his  poor  wife,  was  lying-in. 
They  took  the  head  into  her  room;  and  she  ex- 
pired that  same  evening  from  the  fright. 
Such  were  the  dreadful  scenes  of  that  day  I 


CHAPTER  II 


CHAPTER  II 

From  this  period  I  saw  little  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans.  I  went  to  the  chateau  of  a  friend  of 
mine  at  Ivry,  near  Paris.  Many  events  happened 
in  the  course  of  the  summer,  known  to  all  those 
who  have  read  the  history  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. My  object  being  only  to  give  some  anec- 
dotes of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  I  will  not  pretend  to 
detail  all  the  events  which  took  place;  nor  indeed 
could  any  pen  give  an  adequate  description  of 
them,  or  any  idea  of  that  horrid  and  bloody  period, 
which  Is  a  disgrace  to  human  nature. 

The  Duke  came  twice  to  dine  with  me  In  the 
country,  and  I  found  his  manner  much  altered. 
He  was  low-spirited,  which  never  was  his  natural 
character.  I  always  expressed  great  uneasiness 
to  him  on  account  of  his  situation;  at  which  he 
laughed,  and  said  that  "  I  was  very  foolish,  and 
that  he  had  no  reason  to  be  uneasy;    that  I  was 

47 


48      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

like  all  the  aristocrats,  and  wanted  to  thwart  pop- 
ular opinion;  that  he  never  was  angry  with  people 
on  account  of  their  opinions  about  the  Revolution, 
and  wished  that  people  would  leave  him  alone." 

In  October  I  left  Ivry,  and  stayed  in  Paris  all 
the  winter.  My  house  being  near  Monceau,  I  saw 
the  duke  very  often;  but  as  I  perceived  that  what 
I  said  displeased  him,  I  thought  it  best  not  to  talk 
politics,  when  I  could  avoid  It.  At  that  moment 
I  flattered  myself  that  those  horrible  revolutionary 
principles  would  soon  have  an  end,  either  by  the 
French  people  finding  out  their  own  miserable  sit- 
uation, and  rallying  round  their  monarch,  or  by  the 
assistance  of  foreign  troops.  Though  I  dreaded 
the  storm  which  then  would  have  fallen  on  the 
Duke,  yet  I  must  own,  and  indeed  I  have  often  told 
him  so,  that  I  should  prefer  to  hear  of  his  per- 
petual Imprisonment,  even  of  his  death,  rather  than 
to  see  him  degraded  and  dishonoured. 

Soon  after  this  came  the  5th  of  October,  a  mem- 
orable and  dreadful  day."  But  I  must  here  do 
justice  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  He  certainly  was 
not  at  Versailles  on  that  dreadful  morning,  for  he 
breakfasted  with  company  at  my  house,  when  he 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      49 

was  accused  of  being  in  the  Queen's  apartments 
disguised.  He  told  us  then  that  he  heard  the  fish- 
women  had  gone  to  Versailles  with  some  of  the 
Fauxbourgs,  and  that  people  said  they  were  gone 
to  bring  the  King  again  to  Paris.  He  Informed 
us  that  he  had  heard  this  from  some  of  his  own 
servants  from  the  Palais  Royal.  He  said  he  was 
the  more  surprised  at  this,  as  he  had  left  the  Palais 
Royal  gardens  at  nine  o'clock  of  the  night  before, 
and  all  then  seemed  perfectly  quiet.  He  expressed 
himself  as  not  approving  of  their  bringing  the 
King  to  Paris;  "  that  it  must  be  a  scheme  of  La- 
fayette's; "  but  added,  "  I  dare  say  that  they  will 
accuse  me  of  it,  as  they  lay  every  tumult  to  my 
account.  I  think  myself  this  Is  a  mad  project,  and 
like  all  that  Lafayette  does."  He  stayed  at  my 
house  till  half-past  one  o'clock.  I  have  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  he  went  to  Versailles  till  late  in  the 
day,  when  he  went  to  the  States,  as  everybody 
knows.  The  unfortunate  King  and  Queen  were 
brought  to  Paris  that  evening  by  Lafayette's  mob. 
I  have  entered  Into  this  subject  that  I  may  have 
an  opportunity  of  declaring  that  I  firmly  believe 
the   Duke  of   Orleans  was   innocent  of  the   cruel 


50      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

events  of  that  day  and  night;  and  that  Lafayette 
was  the  author  and  instigator  of  the  treatment  the 
august  Royal  Family  then  met  with.  If  the 
Duke  of  Orleans'  greatest  enemies  will  be  candid, 
I  am  sure  that  they  must  acquit  him  of  the  events 
of  that  day, —  a  day,  which,  in  my  opinion,  de- 
cided the  fate  of  the  Royal  Family,  and  which 
showed  the  country  what  dreadful  events  might  be 
expected  from  such  a  set  of  monsters.  The  Duke 
of  Orleans  was  even  tried  on  this  account,  but  the 
proofs  were  so  absurd  that  it  was  dropped.  And 
indeed  it  was  clear  to  everybody,  that  Lafayette 
and  his  party  were  the  only  guilty  people. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  King  and  Queen  were 
never  again  allowed  to  return  to  Versailles.  They 
were  not  even  permitted  to  go  to  St.  Cloud,  though 
their  health  and  that  of  their  children  required 
country  air.  They  used  to  allow  the  poor  Queen, 
as  a  great  favor,  to  go  out  in  her  coach  and  six, 
accompanied  by  the  Dauphin  and  Madame  Royale, 
Madame  Elizabeth,  and  Madame  de  Tourzelle. 
On  these  occasions  they  always  looked  dismal  and 
unhappy;  indeed  they  had  every  reason  to  be  so, 
for  very  few  showed  the  Queen  the  least  respect. 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      51 

Even  those  who  some  months  before  would  have 
lain  down  in  the  dust  to  make  a  footstool  for  her, 
passed  her  and  splashed  her  all  over.  I  used  fre- 
quently to  meet  her  Majesty  when  I  was  driving 
my  curricle.  Of  course  I  showed  her  every  mark, 
of  respect  in  my  power,  at  which  she  expressed  her- 
self much  pleased.  Indeed  she  had  the  condescen- 
sion to  send  one  of  her  equerries,  M.  de  Chatiers, 
after  me,  to  ask  me  how  my  daughter  was,  as  her 
Majesty  had  been  good  enough  to  think  her  a 
beautiful  child,  and  to  take  great  notice  of  her 
when  she  was  about  three  years  old,  at  St.  Cloud, 
and  had  sent  the  Duke  de  Liancourt  for  her,  and 
kept  her  upon  her  knee  all  the  time  their  Majesties 
were  at  dinner.  From  that  moment  I  always  felt 
myself  obliged  to  the  Queen  for  her  kindness  to 
my  child. 

I  believe  that  she  was  as  amiable  and  good  a 
princess  as  ever  lived.  She  was  cruelly  slandered 
by  the  French  nation.  I  have  known  Intimately 
those  who  attended  nearest  to  her  Majesty's  per- 
son, and  from  whom  she  hid  nothing,  and  they  as- 
sured me  that  she  was  goodness  itself  —  a  kind 
and  most  affectionate  mistress.      Indeed   she  was 


52      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

too  much  so  to  many  who  did  not  deserve  her 
kindness.  The  Queen's  misfortune  was  that  she 
had  been  brought  very  young  to  the  Court  of 
Louis  the  Fifteenth,  where  she  was  exposed  to 
scenes  of  levity  and  Improper  society.  She  had 
thus  Imbibed  a  taste  for  fashions  and  pubhc  amuse- 
ments, which  she  could  not  have  enjoyed,  had  she 
kept  up  her  etiquette  as  a  great  queen.  By  this 
means  she  made  herself  many  enemies  amongst 
the  formal  old  ladies  of  the  Court,  whom  she  dis- 
liked, and  attached  herself  to  younger  people, 
whose  taste  was  more  suited  to  her  own.  This 
was  never  forgiven  by  the  old  nobility,  and  her 
most  Innocent  actions  were  represented  In  a  bad 
light;  her  enemies,  indeed,  accused  her  of  every 
sort  of  vice.  But  let  them  reflect  one  moment  on 
those  who  formed  the  Queen's  most  Intimate  so- 
ciety. It  was  Madame  Elizabeth,  the  King's  sis- 
ter, who  was  an  angel,  and  as  pure  as  snow.  Was 
she  likely  to  have  connived  In  the  Queen's  dis- 
honour? The  Idea  is  horrid;  yet  the  parties  at 
Trianon,  which  were  made  so  much  the  subject  of 
calumny,  were  always  under  the  management  of 
that  virtuous  princess.     Madame  Elizabeth's  at- 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      53 

tachment  for  the  Queen  continued  till  her  last  mo- 
ments, which  I  think  proves  more  than  sufficient  for 
the  unfortunate  Queen's  vindication,  Lafayette's 
treatment  of  the  Royal  Family  during  their  cap- 
tivity in  the  Tuileries  was  very  harsh.  He  was 
always  raising  reports  of  their  wishing  to  escape, 
that  he  might  make  himself  of  consequence  both 
to  the  royalists  and  his  friends  the  rebels.  These 
reports  always  ended  in  some  new  insult  shown  to 
the  Royal  Family. 

At  this  time  the  Duke  of  Orleans  became  more 
and  more  execrated  by  the  Court  and  the  royalists, 
without  having  more  power  in  his  own  party,  who 
were  constantly  making  use  of  his  name  while 
committing  horrors  in  conjunction  with  Lafayette's 
party;  and  I  must  here  again  declare  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  what  was  called  the  Orleans  faction 
ever  even  consulted  the  unfortunate  Duke  about 
their  proceedings.  Soon  after  this  the  Court 
seemed  to  treat  the  Duke  a  little  better,  and  the 
King  appointed  him  High  Admiral  of  France, 
which  surprised  people  at  that  moment.  How- 
ever, his  favour  did  not  last.  The  King  about 
that  time  was  very  ill  with  a  cold,  and  kept  his 


54      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

bed  at  the  Tuileries.  Of  course  all  the  nobility 
went  to  pay  their  respects  to  his  Majesty.  The 
Duke  of  Orleans  went  also.  When  the  King  heard 
that  he  was  there,  he  said,  "  Let  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  approach  my  bed,  and  let  all  the  curtains 
be  opened,  that  he  may  see  that  it  is  I ;  or  a  report 
will  be  raised  in  Paris  that  I  have  fled,  and  that 
somebody  else  was  in  the  bed."  This  anecdote  the 
Duke  told  me  himself,  and  he  was  much  displeased 
with  the  King  on  that  account. 

Soon  after  this  the  ministers  and  the  Court 
thought  that  if  they  could  get  the  Duke  out  of 
Paris  things  would  be  quieter.  They  supposed 
him  to  have  more  partisans  than  he  really  had,  and 
also  more  power.  It  was  at  this  time  that  they 
conceived  the  Idea  of  the  Duke  being  made  Duke 
of  Brabant  —  a  very  ridiculous  plan.  I  believe, 
however,  that  the  Duke  was  foolish  enough  to 
consent  to  it,  and,  indeed,  to  wish  it  much.  For 
that  purpose  they  gave  him  a  sort  of  mission  to 
England,  but  on  what  subject  I  never  positively 
knew,  as  I  never  conversed  with  the  Duke  on  that 
matter.  Our  ministers  must  know  what  brought 
him  to  England.      Many  ill-natured  reports  were 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      55 

spread  in  Paris,  such  as  asserting  that  Lafayette 
had  forced  the  Duke  to  leave  Paris,  as  he  had 
proofs  that  the  Duke  had  attempted  to  get  the 
King  assassinated.  This  was  false,  as  the  Duke 
and  Lafayette  were  at  that  moment  good  friends, 
and  had  met  as  friends  the  evening  before  the  Duke 
went  to  England  at  Madame  de  Coigny's,  where 
they  were  on  the  best  of  terms.  I  have  some  let- 
ters of  Lafayette  to  the  Duke  since  that  period,  full 
of  respect  and  compliments. 

In  the  spring  of  1790  I  went  to  Brussels,  and 
saw  many  of  the  Duke's  agents,  such  as  Comte  de 
la  Mark,  Walgains  the  banker,  and  others;  but 
I  soon  found  out  that  the  Comte  was  more  active 
with  a  view  of  becoming  Duke  of  Brabant  himself, 
or  at  least  of  getting  the  dukedom  into  his  own 
family.  I  saw  him  as  active  in  that  revolution  as 
he  has  been  in  France.  That  country  was  then  in 
full  revolt  against  the  Emperor.  There  were  two 
rebel  parties,  the  Vandernotts  and  the  Vonckists: 
the  first  were  so  on  religious  pretexts,  and  the  others 
were  more  inclined  to  the  Jacobins  of  France. 
This  party  was  the  one  which  was  supposed  to  fa- 
vour the  Duke  of  Orleans;   and  of  this  party  were 


56      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

the  D'Arembergs.  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
both  Vandernott  and  Vannpar  [qy.],  who  was  a 
monk  of  the  order  of  the  Penitents,  and  always 
wore  the  habit.  He  was  a  very  clever,  artful  man, 
and  under  the  mask  of  religion  led  the  others. 
Vandernott  was  an  avocat,  very  quick  and  active, 
and  was  the  chief  actor  under  Vannpar. 

At  that  period  people  who  resided  at  Brussels 
were  obliged  to  have  a  pass  to  go  out  of  town. 
On  sending  one  day  to  the  town-house  to  get  one 
to  go  to  the  Duke  d'Aremberg  '^  at  Enghein,  be- 
tween Halle  and  Conde,  they  sent  me  word  that 
they  had  orders  not  to  let  me  go  out  of  the  town. 
I  was  much  surprised  and  shocked  at  this,  as  I  con- 
sidered myself  an  English  subject.  I  went  imme- 
diately to  Colonel  Gardiner,  our  Minister  at  Brus- 
sels,^ to  complain.  He  said  that  "  he  was  not 
surprised  at  anything  the  States  did;  that  they  had 
some  days  before  stopped  his  own  messenger  going 
to  England,  and  had  broken  open  his  despatches; 
that  he  had  been  to  the  States  to  complain,  but  had 
had  no  redress;  that  he  did  not  mean  to  go  to  them 
any  more  till  he  heard  from  his  Court  what  he  was 
to  do;  and  that  if  I  insisted  on  his  going  on  my 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      57 

account  he  would,  but  he  thought  he  had  better 
not."  I  said,  I  had  a  great  mind  to  go  myself  to 
Vandernott,  as  I  used  often  to  meet  him,  and  he 
always  bowed  to  me.  Colonel  Gardiner  thought 
that  I  should  do  right.  I  went  accordingly  that 
same  day,  and  found  Vandernott  and  Vannpar  to- 
gether. I  sent  in  my  name,  and  was  very  well  re- 
ceived. I  stated  my  complaint,  and  that  as  a  sub- 
ject of  the  King  of  England  they  had  used  me  ill. 
He  said  that  "he  had  never  given  such  orders; 
that  other  members  must  have  done  it;  that  he  was 
so  much  harassed  by  business  that  he  could  not  be 
answerable  for  every  fault  that  was  committed. 
He  was  very  sorry,  and  assured  me  I  should  from 
that  moment  have  a  pass  to  go  and  come  from  Eng- 
hien  whenever  I  pleased."  At  the  same  time  he 
told  me  that  "  he  knew  I  was  come  from  Paris,  and 
there  saw  much  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  at 
Brussels  lived  a  great  deal  with  the  D'Arembergs, 
and  of  course  was  of  their  party."  I  assured  him 
that  "  I  was  not;  that  though  I  saw  much  of  those 
people,  yet  I  never  had  liked  their  revolutionary 
conduct  either  in  France  or  Brabant;  that  I  always 
was  a  royalist,  and  ever  should  be  such;  that  I  was 


58      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

neither  a  Vandernottlst  nor  a  Vonckist.  Both 
Vandernott  and  Vannpar  smiled,  and  said  "at  least 
I  was  very  honest;  but  as  there  were  very  few 
royalists  In  Brussels  I  was  not  dangerous,  and  they 
would  not  disturb  me  any  more."  They  were  in 
high  good  humour,  as  that  very  day  they  had  re- 
ceived news  of  a  victory  over  Vandermerck,  a 
Vonckist  general. 

The  villagers  were  beginning  to  enter  Brussels  In 
procession,  bringing  large  baskets  filled  with  gold 
of  all  coins,  to  give  to  Vandernott  to  carry  on  the 
revolution.  These  processions  were  followed  by 
monks  of  all  orders.  Capuchins,  &c.,  on  horseback 
with  a  cross  in  one  hand  and  a  sword  In  the  other. 
They  were  closed  by  the  hangmen  of  the  villages 
and  towns,  carrying  gallows  and  racks.  In  the 
evening  these  poor  deluded  people  returned  to  their 
villages  drunk  and  In  complete  riot. 

I  witnessed  many  terrible  scenes  In  Brussels,  sim- 
ilar to  those  In  France,  but  here  religion  was  the 
pretext.  I  saw  poor  creatures  murdered  In  the 
streets  because  they  did  not  pull  their  hats  off  to 
Capuchins,  or  for  passing  a  bust  of  Vandernott 
without  bowing  very  low.     His  busts  were  put  all 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      59 

over  the  town  and  even  In  the  theatre.  Vandernott 
was  a  very  odd-looking  man.  He  was,  I  fancy, 
about  forty,  rather  tall  and  thin.  He  was  full  of 
vivacity,  and  did  not  look  ill-natured,  though  very 
ugly.  I  never  shall  forget  his  dress.  It  was  a 
Quaker-coloured  silk  coat  lined  with  pink  and  nar- 
row silver-lace,  a  white  dimity  waistcoat,  white 
cotton  stockings,  net  ruffles  with  fringe  round  them, 
and  a  powdered  bob-wig. 

The  horrors  now  began  to  gain  ground  in  Brus- 
sels. The  Austrians  got  possession  of  the  town, 
but  were  unfortunately  driven  out  again  by  the 
patriots.  There  was  a  truce  one  night.  During 
this  time  the  poor  Austrians  were  lying  In  the  Park 
of  Brussels,  without  food  or  anything  they  wanted, 
for  the  Inhabitants  of  Brussels  did  not  dare  even  to 
sell  them  an  ounce  of  bread.  Here  they  lay  all 
night  In  the  wet.  As  my  house  was  in  the  Park,  I 
gave  them  out  of  the  window  everything  that  was 
in  the  house  of  eatables  and  drink;  and  so  did 
Prince  Louis  d'Aremberg,  though  It  was  not  his 
brother's  party,  he  having  always  remained  a 
staunch  royalist. 

As  I   feared  when  the   Austrians  left   Brussels 


6o      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

that  I  might  be  ill-used  by  the  mob,  I  set  off  for 
Paris  the  next  day,  hoping  to  remain  there  quiet. 
At  this  time  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  in  England, 
but  his  enemies  having  propagated  stories  of  his 
not  daring  to  return  to  France,  his  friend  the  Due 
de  Biron  pressed  him  much  to  return,  and  show  the 
world  that  he  was  not  afraid  of  Lafayette.  I  was 
in  Paris  when  the  Duke  returned,  which  was  the 
13th  of  July,  1790,  at  night.  The  following  day, 
the  14th,  was  the  first  famous  Federation,  when 
the  King  and  Queen  went  to  the  Champ  de  Mars, 
and  when  Monsieur  de  Talleyrand,  then  Bishop 
of  Autun,  said  mass  before  their  Majesties.  The 
Duke  of  Orleans  walked  in  the  procession,  and  peo- 
ple were  much  surprised  to  see  him,  after  the  re- 
ports which  had  been  circulated. 

I  saw  him  that  same  day.  He  dined  with  me, 
as  did  the  Due  de  Biron  and  others.  He  had 
brought  me  letters  from  England,  where  he  had 
seen  my  daughter.  The  Duke  expressed  much 
regret  at  leaving  England:  would  to  God  that  he 
had  stayed  there !  He  was,  however,  rather  well 
received  at  Paris;  but  his  faction  was  always 
afraid  lest  he  should  be  better  treated  by  the  Court, 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      6i 

and  so  slip  through  their  fingers.  They  were  en- 
chanted at  his  having  been  very  much  Insulted  one 
day  at  Court,  as  they  saw  that  they  had  nothing 
more  to  fear  from  that  quarter;  and  the  Duke  by 
that  means  became  every  day  more  and  more  in 
their  power. 

I  wish  that  the  Court  would  have  believed  me. 
The  Queen  had  very  often  expressed  her  approba- 
tion, and  Indeed  had  sent  me  kind  messages  as  to 
my  conduct  during  the  Revolution.  She  well  knew 
the  advice  I  always  gave  the  Duke  of  Orleans; 
Indeed  her  Majesty  charged  me  once  with  a  mission 
to  Brussels,  which  showed  the  opinion  she  honoured 
me  with,  though  she  knew  that  I  saw  the  Duke 
every  day.  I  always  hoped  to  be  of  use,  but  alas! 
I  did  not  succeed.  Madame  de  Buffon  and  the 
Duke's  friends  did  everything  they  could  to  prevent 
his  coming  to  me.  They  used  to  tell  him  that  as 
I  saw  none  but  royalists  and  his  enemies,  I  should 
get  him  assassinated.  However,  he  never  would 
give  me  up;  and  though  he  heard  nothing  but 
harsh  truth  from  me,  he  always  came  to  me,  and 
he  always  assured  me  that  he  believed  I  was  sin- 
cere in  thinking  I  gave  him  good  advice,  but  that 


62      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

the  royalists  had  turned  my  head,  and  would  cause 
my  ruin.  I  wish  that  he  had  believed  In  my  fore- 
sight, for  I  often  foretold  him  what  has  since 
happened. 

I  took  at  that  time  a  house  at  Issy,  near  Paris, 
which  belonged  to  the  Duchess  St.  Infantador. 
She,  poor  woman,  had  been  a  friend  of  the  Queen, 
who  used  often  to  go  to  Issy  with  her  children  to 
walk  In  the  grounds.  It  was  a  beautiful  place,  and 
there  her  Majesty  could  enjoy  a  little  quiet,  without 
being  followed  by  a  crowd  of  National  Guards. 
The  people  of  the  village  accused  the  Duchess  of 
hiding  effects  of  the  Court  and  royalists,  and  used 
to  go  In  the  dead  of  night  and  search  the  house. 
This  plagued  her  so  much,  that  she  left  France 
and  returned  to  Spain,  leaving  orders  that  her 
house  might  be  let.  I  took  It  for  two  years,  but 
the  village  was  so  Jacobin  that  I  left  It,  and  bought 
a  small  cottage  at  Meudon,  some  miles  further. 
The  Queen  came  twice  to  Issy  while  I  had  It,  and 
was  always  condescending  enough  to  ask  my  leave 
to  walk  In  the  grounds. 

Her  Majesty,  hearing  that  I  had  thoughts  of 
returning  to  Brussels,  sent  a  great  lady  to  my  house 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      63 

with  a  small  box  and  a  letter  for  the  Archduchess, 
which  I  was  to  deliver  into  her  own  hands.  I  did 
not  intend  going  to  Brussels,  but  I  never  made  that 
known  to  her  Majesty.  I  got  a  passport  from 
Lord  Gower,^  our  ambassador,  and  felt  myself 
happy  in  taking  this  journey  to  be  of  use  to  the 
Queen.  When  I  got  to  Brussels,  the  Archduchess 
had  just  left  it  with  the  Duke  Albert;  and  as  the 
Queen  had  foreseen  the  possibility  of  this,  she  had 
desired  me  in  that  case  to  deliver  it  to  General 
Boileau,  who  was  at  Mons,  commanding  the  Aus- 
trian army. 

The  Queen's  coming  to  Issy  gave  rise  to  a  re- 
port that  her  Majesty  had  had  a  conversation  with 
the  Duke  at  Issy.  The  Duke  would  often  dine 
with  me  there,  and  indeed  often  met  the  young 
nobles  who  had  returned  to  Paris  from  Germany 
or  England,  in  hopes  of  being  of  use  to  the  King. 
But  all  their  plans  were  ill-conceived  and  very  ill- 
executed,  turning  out  always  to  the  unfortunate 
King's  disadvantage,  as  they  gave  the  conspirators 
an  opportunity  of  confining  the  King  and  his  fam- 
ily more  severely.  I  was  always  uneasy  when  the 
Duke  came  and  the  royalists  were  present,  as  I  was 


64      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

afraid  of  the  Duke  meeting  with  any  insult  in  my 
house.  That  would  have  made  me  miserable. 
But  as  politics  were  never  discussed,  and  the  Duke 
was  very  civil  and  good-natured  to  them,  nothing 
disagreeable  happened;  though  the  young  men,  as 
well  as  the  Duke,  seemed  much  embarrassed. 
They  had  all  been  his  intimate  friends  before  the 
Revolution,  and  had  liked  and  respected  him  much; 
therefore  their  situation  was  more  distressing. 
These  nobles  were  what  were  called  Les  Chevaliers 
dii  Poi guard. 

Everybody  must  remember  the  day  when  they 
rallied  round  the  King  at  the  Tuileries,  a  project 
which  was  not  of  the  least  use.  They  wanted  num- 
bers, and  an  able  chief.  Had  any  prince  of  the 
Bourbons  come  to  Paris,  or  planted  a  standard  to 
make  a  rallying  point  for  the  royalists  in  any  part 
of  France,  I  really  think  the  King  might  have 
been  delivered;  but  very  unfortunately  there  was 
no  one  chief  on  whom  they  could  depend, 

I  myself,  since  the  reign  of  Bonaparte,  have 
heard  General  Leopold  Berthier,  brother  to  the 
Minister  at  War,  say  that  he  and  his  brother  would 
have  repaired  to  any  standard  where  there  was  a 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      65 

chief  of  the  House  of  Bourbon,  and  have  fought 
for  the  King  to  the  last  drop  of  their  blood.  I 
have  heard  other  generals  say  as  much.  I  am  cer- 
tain that  three  parts,  at  least,  of  France  would  have 
done  the  same. 

What  a  misfortune  for  the  world  that  this  was 
not  the  case !  Even  the  brave  and  loyal  Vendeans 
were  sacrificed  for  want  of  a  proper  chief.  That 
valiant  and  hardy  people,  in  spite  of  all  the  calam- 
ities they  had  suffered,  would  ever  have  been  ready 
to  rise  for  the  royal  cause.  Their  loyalty  and  reli- 
gion will  always  keep  them  faithful  subjects. 

The  King,  poor  man,  had  now  little  exercise. 
When  he  rode  out,  accompanied  by  the  few  friends 
he  had  left,  such  as  the  Due  de  Brisac,  the  Cheva- 
lier de  Coigny,  and  others,  that  wretch  Lafayette 
always  followed  him  with  twenty  or  thirty  of  the 
officers  of  the  National  Guards,  so  that  he  seldom 
went  out,  as  his  rides  were  not  comfortable  in  such 
company. 


CHAPTER  III 


CHAPTER  III 

Monsieur,  now  Louis  XVIII.  was  In  Paris  dur- 
ing all  these  events;  but  he  lived  a  great  deal  with 
people  of  letters,  and  seldom  left  the  Luxembourg 
but  to  go  to  the  TuUerles.  Many  have  blamed 
this  prince  for  his  conduct  when  he  went  to  the 
Hotel  de  Vllle;  but  I  am  certain,  and  everybody 
is  now  convinced  of  it,  that  his  motive  for  so  doing 
was  the  hope  of  being  of  use  to  the  unfortunate 
King,  his  brother.  These  were  most  certainly  vir- 
tuous motives,  although  not  attended  with  success. 
This  prince  has  always  been  much  respected  by  the 
King's  friends,  and  those  who  blamed  him  the  most 
saw  that  the  motive  was  good. 

The  friends  of  Lafayette  were  ever  talking  of 
the  King's  escape.  Would  to  God  that  he  had  suc- 
ceeded In  getting  off!  It  would  have  spared 
France  from  many  crimes,  and  saved  the  life  of 
that  virtuous  monarch,  who  was  too  good  to  reign 

69 


70      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

over  such  miscreants.  He  was  religious,  and  could 
not  bear  to  shed  the  blood  of  his  subjects;  for  had 
he,  when  the  nobles  went  over  to  the  Tiers  Etats, 
caused  the  unfortunate  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  about 
twenty  others,  to  be  arrested  and  executed,  Europe 
would  have  been  saved  from  the  calamities  it  has 
since  suffered;  and  I  should  now  dare  to  regret  my 
poor  friend  the  Duke,  who,  instead  of  dying  thus 
regretted,  lived  to  be  despised  and  execrated,  and  to 
perish  on  a  scaffold  by  the  hands  of  those  whom  he 
had  dishonoured  himself  to  serve.  These  are 
cruel  truths  for  me  to  tell,  but  such  they  are. 

Everybody  knows  that  in  the  summer  of  179 1 
the  King  and  royal  family  tried  to  make  their  es- 
cape. I  have  no  doubt  that  Lafayette  was  privy  to 
the  event,  and  afterwards  through  fear  betrayed 
him.  They  were  stopped  at  Varennes,  used  most 
cruelly,  and  brought  back  to  Paris  in  a  most  bar- 
barous manner.  I  saw  them  in  the  Champs 
Elysees  as  they  came  back,  and  witnessed  such  a 
scene  as  it  is  impossible  to  describe.  The  inso- 
lence of  the  mob  and  the  wretches  that  sur- 
rounded the  travelling  coaches  they  were  in  was 
very  terrible.     The  faithful  Garde  de  Corps,  who 


Lafayette 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      71 

haci  followed  the  King,  were  tied  hands  and  feet 
with  ropes  on  the  coach-box  of  their  Majesties' 
carriage,  which  went  at  a  foot-pace,  that  the  mon- 
sters might  follow.  They  were  leaning  on  the 
coach,  smoking,  swearing,  and  talking  the  most 
indecent  language.  They  prevented  any  air  get- 
ting into  the  carriage,  though  the  poor  Queen  was 
dying  with  heat  and  fatigue,  for  they  had  not  been 
in  bed  since  they  left  Paris,  and  it  was  one  of  the 
hottest  days  I  ever  felt.  This  was  another  dread- 
ful event. 

I  left  Paris  that  evening  for  Spa,^^  and  found 
Monsieur,  now  Louis  XVIII.,  at  Brussels.  He 
had  succeeded  in  making  his  escape  by  Valen- 
ciennes. I  wish  that  the  King  had  taken  that  road 
and  gone  alone,  but  he  never  could  be  persuaded 
to  leave  the  Queen,  as  he  feared  that  the  mob 
would  murder  her.  I  stayed  at  Spa  till  Septem- 
ber. Would  that  I  had  never  again  returned  to 
France!  But  at  that  moment  we  expected  the 
Prussians,  the  Austrians,  and  Swedes  to  join  and 
save  France  from  any  further  faction ;  for  though 
the  King's  arrest  at  Varennes  had  much  damped 
the  spirits  of  the  royalists,  the  case  was  too  interest- 


^2      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

ing  to  be  given  up.  Spa  was  full  of  emigrants, 
and  they  all  expected  soon  to  return  to  France. 
The  unfortunate  King  of  Sweden,  who  was  him- 
self assassinated  some  months  after,  was  a  sincere 
friend  of  the  King  of  France,  and  would  have 
aided  the  counter-revolution  with  all  his  power. 
I  knew  him,  and  thought  him  one  of  the  best-bred 
and  most  amiable  men  I  ever  saw. 

On  my  return  to  Paris  I  found  that  many  of  the 
emigrants  had  entered  France  in  hopes  of  a  change, 
but  Lafayette  and  his  friends  had  so  surrounded 
both  the  outside  and  inside  of  the  King's  palace 
with  spies,  that  It  was  hardly  possible  for  the 
friends  of  the  King  or  Queen  to  have  any  commu- 
nication with  them;  and  their  projects  were  again 
and  again  frustrated. 

I  cannot  recollect  any  other  events  of  that  year, 
except  that  on  my  return  to  Paris  I  found  the  Due 
de  Choiscul  and  the  Comte  Charles  de  Damas  had 
been  arrested  for  being  colonels  of  the  two  regi- 
ments which  were  to  have  favoured  the  King's  es- 
cape. I  had  a  letter  given  me  at  Spa  by  Comte 
Roger  Damas  for  his  brother,  and  I  was  deter- 
mined to  dcli\'cr  it  into  his  own  hands,  for  fear  it 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      73 

might  contain  anything  about  the  passing  events. 
He  was  imprisoned  at  the  Mercy,  a  convent  of 
Brothers  in  the  Marals.  I  obtained  admission 
there,  and  saw  both  him  and  the  Due  de  Choiseul. 
They  were  in  very  low  spirits,  but  the  King  got 
them  reheved  soon  after. 

After  this,  I  remained  always  either  at  Issy  or  in- 
Paris,  till  I  bought  my  house  at  Meudon.^^  I  often 
saw  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  but  was  so  disappointed 
at  the  very  unfortunate  turn  everything  took  for 
the  royal  cause,  that  I  avoided  as  much  as  possible 
listening  to  anything  on  the  subject.  I  observed 
also  how  the  Duke  was  daily  lowering  himself.  I 
was,  indeed,  very  unhappy.  His  faction,  and  of 
course  himself,  were  accused  of  the  disturbances 
which  were  going  on.  That  faction,  without  the 
Duke,  was  capable  of  anything;  still  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  all  the  riots  were  committed  by  it.  La- 
fayette did  much  harm. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  was  taxed  with  having 
given  large  sums  of  money  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Revolution  to  Incite  the  French  Guards  to  revolt. 
This  I  do  not  believe;  nor  could  those  who  ex- 
amined his  papers  and  affairs  after  his  death  ever 


74      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

find  any  evidence  of  this  having  been  the  case. 
Those  who  made  this  examination  were  not  the 
Duke's  friends,  and  would  not  have  spared  him 
could  they  have  found  it  out.  There  were  in  his 
accounts  only  thirteen  thousand  livres  for  which 
they  could  not  account;  but  so  small  a  sum  could 
not  have  paid  such  a  body  of  men.  Lafayette 
himself  incited  them  to  revolt.  I  am  certain,  that 
had  the  Duke  of  Orleans  expected  the  Revolution 
to  last  more  than  six  months,  he  never  would  have 
wished  it.  He  had  the  great  fault  of  not  forgiving 
easily.  His  governor,  the  Comte  de  Pons,  when 
he  had  finished  the  Duke's  education,  and  he  went 
out  of  his  hands,  made  use  of  this  expression:  "  I 
have  finished  the  education  of  a  young  prince  who 
will  make  a  noise,  but  he  must  not  be  offended  — 
he  does  not  pardon."  This,  however,  was  not 
quite  the  case,  for  I  have  seen  him  forgive;  and 
never  saw  him  nor  heard  him  pay  any  ill-natured 
thing  to  anybody  until  his  head  was  turned  by  the 
horrid  Revolution. 

In  the  year  1792,  the  Duke  went  to  join  the 
French  Army  du  Nord,  commanded  by  the  old 
Comte  de  Rochambeau.     He  had  his  three  sons 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      75 

with  him;  at  least,  Monsieur  le  Due  de  Mont- 
pensier  and  the  Comte  de  Beaujolais.  I  think 
that  the  Due  de  Chartres  was  then  more  advanced 
in  Brabant  with  Dumourier,  but  I  cannot  remember 
the  events  of  the  army.  The  poor  Royal  Family 
got  worse  used  every  day:  their  existence  indeed 
was  terrible.  When  the  French  army  was  de- 
feated at  Mons,  the  Due  de  Biron  commanded,  and 
the  Dukes  of  Chartres  and  Montpensier  were  with 
him.  It  was  their  first  campaign  and  I  remember 
that  it  was  after  this  period  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
went  to  join  the  army  at  Courtray,  and  took  his 
youngest  son,  Comte  de  Beaujolais,  with  him. 

In  the  course  of  this  summer,  the  20th  of  June, 
the  Poissardes  and  the  Fauxbourgs,  headed  by  San- 
terre,  came  down  to  the  Tuileries,  and  forced  their 
way  into  the  King's  apartments,  as  the  King  would 
never  allow  the  troops  to  fire  on  the  mob ;  indeed, 
most  part  of  the  troops  were  National  Guards,  who 
were  no  better  than  the  mob  that  came.  These 
miscreants  forced  the  red  cap  on  the  King's  head, 
and  used  gross  and  familiar  language  to  him. 
They  wanted  to  get  to  the  Queen's  apartments, 
as  was  supposed  to  murder  her.     It  was  Madame 


76      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Elizabeth  who  prevented  them.  However,  the 
Queen  was  frightened,  and  came  and  placed  her- 
self by  the  King's  side,  to  whom  she  always  fled  for 
protection.  They  brought  a  little  red  cap  for  the 
dear  little  Dauphin.  He  was  present,  dressed  In 
the  regimentals  of  the  nation,  for  they  had  formed 
a  corps  of  little  boys  which  was  called  the  Prince 
Dauphin's  regiment.  In  short,  this  mob,  after 
staying  a  great  part  of  the  evening,  annoying  the 
King  and  Queen,  drinking  and  stealing  everything 
they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  quitted  the  Palace, 
and  left  the  Royal  Family  convinced  that  they  had 
now  nothing  to  expect  but  similar  Insults. 

At  that  period  I  received  a  letter  from  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  who  was  then  at  Courtray,  which  let- 
ter I  have  now  before  me,  expressing  his  satisfac- 
tion at  being  out  of  Paris  at  that  moment.  In  it 
he  says:  "  I  hope  they  will  not  now  accuse  me;  " 
but  If  he  was  Innocent,  his  friends  perhaps  were 
not;  and  the  gross  Insult  offered  to  the  King  at  the 
Palace  was  imputed  to  Robespierre  and  Marat, 
who  never  were  even  of  the  Orleans  faction.  Af- 
ter the  20th  of  June,  the  people  who  wished  well  to 
the  King  and  Queen  were  desirous  that  her  Maj- 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR     T] 

esty  should  sometimes  appear  in  public,  accompa- 
nied by  the  Dauphin,  a  most  interesting,  beautiful 
child,  and  her  charming  daughter,  Madame 
Royale.  In  consequence  of  this  she  went  to  the 
Comedie  Italienne  with  her  children,  Madame 
Elizabeth,  the  King's  sister  and  Madame  Tour- 
zelle,  governess  to  the  royal  children.  This  was 
the  very  last  time  on  which  her  Majesty  appeared 
in  public.  I  was  there  in  my  own  box,  nearly  op- 
posite the  Queen's;  and  as  she  was  so  much  more 
interesting  than  the  play,  I  never  took  my  eyes  off 
her  and  her  family.  The  opera  which  was  given 
was  hes  Evenements  Imprevus,^^  and  Madame 
Dugazon  played  the  soiihrette.  Her  Majesty, 
from  her  first  entering  the  house,  seemed  distressed. 
She  was  overcome  even  by  the  applause,  and  I  saw 
her  several  times  wipe  the  tears  from  her  eyes. 
The  little  Dauphin,  who  sat  on  her  knee  the  whole 
night,  seemed  anxious  to  know  the  cause  of  his  un- 
fortunate mother's  tears.  She  seemed  to  soothe 
him,  and  the  audience  appeared  well  disposed,  and 
to  feel  for  the  cruel  situation  of  their  beautiful 
Queen.  In  one  of  the  acts  a  duet  is  sung  by  the 
souhrcttc  and  the  I'aJct,  where  Madame  Dugazon 


78      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

says:  'Ah!  comme  j'aime  ma  maitressel '  As 
she  looked  particularly  at  the  Queen  at  the  moment 
she  said  this,  some  Jacobins,  who  had  come  Into 
the  playhouse  leapt  upon  the  stage,  and  If  the  actors 
had  not  hid  Madame  Dugazon,  they  would  have 
murdered  her.  They  hurried  the  poor  Queen  and 
family  out  of  the  house,  and  It  was  all  the  Guards 
could  do  to  get  them  safe  Into  their  carriages.  By 
this  time  the  Queen's  party  began  to  beat  the  Jac- 
obins, but  the  soldiers  interfered,  and  of  course 
nothing  could  be  done.  This  was,  I  say,  her  Maj- 
esty's last  appearance  in  public.  There  were  very 
few  indeed  at  the  theatre  that  night  who  had  not 
made  a  point  of  going  on  purpose  to  applaud  the 
Royal  Family;  but  the  Jacobins  finding  that,  sent 
for  their  own  people  to  insult  this  Interesting  fam- 
ily. 

The  next  event  which  occurred  was  the  loth  of 
August,  never  to  be  forgotten !  As  I  was  getting 
up  I  heard  a  great  cannonading.  My  house  being 
in  the  Faubourg  St.  Honore,  not  far  from  the 
Tullerles,  the  noise  was  terrible.  I  soon  heard  the 
dreadful  news  that  the  Faubourgs  St.  Antoine  and 
St.  Marceau,  having  Santerre  at  their  head,  had 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      79 

marched  down  and  attacked  the  Tuilerles;  that 
the  King  and  Queen  had  fled  to  the  National  As- 
sembly; In  short,  I  heard  of  the  horrors  which 
were  going  on.  My  first  wish  was  to  leave  Paris, 
and  go  to  my  house  at  Meudon,  but  I  was  told  that 
the  barriers  of  Paris  were  shut,  and  no  one  was 
allowed  to  go  out  of  the  town. 

In  the  course  of  the  morning  I  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  being  of  use  to  three  or  four  Swiss  sol- 
diers, whom  I  hid  In  my  house  till  the  evening: 
Major  Backman  living  in  the  Rue  Verte,  and  his 
garden  and  mine  joining,  they  had  come  over  the 
wall.  I  wish  I  could  have  done  as  much  for  their 
major,  but  he,  poor  man,  perished  that  same  day. 
I  don't  know  whether  the  men  who  were  hidden  in 
my  house  were  saved.  They  would  go  away  In  the 
evening,  and  I  never  heard  of  them  more.  My 
maid  put  me  In  mind  of  a  porter  of  mine,  who  had 
taken  a  garden  and  small  house  behind  the  Inval- 
Ides,  and  near  the  Military  School.  She  said  that 
she  had  often  heard  him  declare  that  there  was  a 
breach  In  the  walls  of  Paris  close  to  him,  which  the 
smugglers  had  made,  and  that  any  one  with  little 
trouble  could  get  over.     I  desired  my  maid  to  say 


8o      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

nothing  to  my  servants  about  this,  but  at  nine 
o'clock  to  walk  with  me  to  this  man's  house,  who 
was  a  very  honest  and  good  creature.  When  I 
got  there  he  seemed  afraid  of  assisting  me,  for 
fear  of  a  discovery;  but  I  promised  him  secrecy, 
and  that  my  maid  should  return  to  my  house  in 
Paris,  and  that  I  would  go  alone.  I  could  not  take 
her  with  me,  as  everything  I  had  was  in  Paris, 
and  my  house  at  Meudon  being  small  I  kept  few 
servants  there. 

I  got  safely  over  the  wall,  crossed  the  plains  of 
Vaugirard  in  the  dark,  in  fear  every  moment  of 
meeting  patrole  or  murderers,  till  I  got  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  steep  hill  which  leads  up  to  the  Chateau 
of  Meudon,  my  house  being  on  the  top  of  the  hill. 
I  had  never  looked  back:  my  heart  beat  hard.  I 
thought  every  moment  that  I  was  followed. 
About  the  middle  of  the  hill  I  saw  a  man  coming 
towards  me,  and  was  so  much  terrified  that  I 
dropped  down  amongst  the  vines  which  border  the 
hill,  quite  losing  my  senses.  On  my  recovery  I 
neither  saw  nor  heard  anybody.  Perhaps  it  was 
some  poor  wretch  making  his  escape,  who  was  as 
much  alarmed  as  I  was.     I  was  then  not  very  far 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      8i 

trom  my  own  house,  and  with  great  pain  I  reached 
it,  but  so  much  fatigued  and  agitated  that  they 
were  obliged  to  undress  me  and  put  me  to  bed  al- 
most senseless.  My  feet  were  covered  with  blood, 
having  no  soles  to  my  shoes  or  stockings.  My 
shoes  were  thin  white  silk,  and  that  road  is  very 
stony. 

I  remained  at  Meudon  as  quiet  and  retired  as  I 
could  till  the  dreadful  2nd  of  September.  In  the 
morning  of  that  day  a  boy,  who  looked  like  a  beg- 
gar, brought  me  a  note  from  a  friend  of  mine,  en- 
treating me  to  come  to  Paris,  and  to  bring  a  pass- 
port with  me  for  myself  and  servant,  and  to  come 
alone,  as  I  might  by  that  means  be  of  use  to  an 
unhappy  person;  stating  that  if  I  wished  to  be  of 
service  I  must  come  directly.  I  did  not  hesitate, 
but  went  at  once  to  the  mayor  of  Meudon,  who 
gave  me  a  passport  for  myself  and  servant  to  re- 
turn before  twelve  o'clock  at  night.  I  got  into 
one  of  the  cabriolets  which  hold  two  people  with  a 
c^river  on  the  outside,  and  I  went  quite  alone. 
When  I  reached  the  Barrier  Vaugirard,  which 
is  in  the  section  of  the  Croix  Rouge,  and  was  one 
of  the  worst  In  Paris,  I  showed  the  guards  my  pass 


82      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

by  which  I  was  to  return  at  night.  They  said 
that  I  must  go  to  the  section-house,  and  get  it 
signed.  The  soldiers  seemed  surprised  at  my 
wishing  to  enter  Paris  at  such  a  moment.  They 
told  me  that  the  people  were  murdering  in  the 
prisons;  that  the  streets  were  running  In  blood; 
and  that  those  who  were  In  Paris  would  give  all 
they  had  in  the  world  to  be  out  of  It.  I  told  them 
that  I  had  a  mother  dying,  who  wished  to  see  me, 
and  that  I  could  not  refuse  to  go  to  her.  They 
pitied  me,  and  were  very  good-natured. 

I  then  went  to  the  section-house.  I  forgot  to 
mention  that  they  asked  me  for  my  servant  at  the 
barrier,  and  I  told  them  that  he  had  been  sent  back 
for  some  papers,  which  I  was  taking  to  my  mother. 
The  guard,  who  went  with  me  to  the  section-house, 
stated  this,  and  of  course  they  were  not  very  sus- 
picious about  a  pe'rson  who  wished  to  enter  Paris 
at  such  a  moment.  I  then  went  directly  to  my 
friend's  house  in  the  Rue  de  I'Encre,  on  the  Boule- 
vards de  I'Ancien  Opera,  and  I  found  to  my 
very  great  surprise  that  the  person  she  wished  me 
to  serve  was  the  Marquis  de  Chansenets,^^  gov- 
ernor of  the  Tuileries,  who  had  been  concealed  in 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      83 

the  roof  of  her  house  since  the  loth  of  August. 
I  had  heard,  as  had  many  others,  that  he  had 
been  murdered  In  the  palace  on  the  loth.  How- 
ever, he  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  escape.  He 
had  passed  the  night  between  the  9th  and  loth 
with  the  King  In  the  Interior  of  the  palace,  and  of 
course  was  In  his  uniform,  which  was  that  of  ma- 
jor-general. I  The  troops  In  the  palace  were  the 
brave  and  magnificent  regiment  of  Swiss  Guards, 
and  the  brave  battalion  of  St.  Thomas  du  Louvre, 
who  all  fought  with  great  courage,  till  they  found 
that  the  King  and  his  family  were  gone,  and  that 
they  had  no  more  to  do.  The  Swiss  Guards  and 
the  battalion  of  St.  Thomas  were  cut  to  pieces. 
Those  who  were  left  were  murdered  by  the  mob, 
as  were  the  ofiicers.  Some  Indeed  were  beheaded. 
Monsieur  de  Chansenets  never  left  their  Majesties 
till  the  King  was  persuaded  by  Roederer  to  fly 
to  the  Assembly  for  protection  for  his  family. 
The  Queen  showed  much  reluctance  to  take  such  a 
step,  and  did  everything  In  her  power  to  prevent 
the  King  going,  and  even  went  on  her  knees  to 
him,  but  he  thought  that  it  would  save  the  blood 
of  his  subjects,  and  that  his  family  would  be  in 


84      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

safety,  for  I  firmly  believe  that  he  never  considered 
himself  in  the  matter.  When  the  unfortunate 
Queen  left  the  palace,  she  gave  her  hand  to  Mon- 
sieur de  Chansenets,  and  said,  "  I  fear  we  are  do- 
ing wrong,  but  you  know  that  I  cannot  persuade. 
Adieu !  God  only  knows  If  ever  we  shall  meet 
again!  " 

After  their  departure,  Chansenets  had  only  time 
to  try  to  make  his  escape,  as  the  troops  and  the 
mob  had  got  into  the  Palace,  and  were  murdering 
everybody  belonging  to  the  King,  and  pillaging 
everything  which  came  in  their  way.  Poor  Chan- 
senets, finding  that  he  had  no  chance  of  escape,  be- 
ing so  well  known  as  governor  of  the  Palace, 
threw  himself  out  of  one  of  the  low  windows  Into 
the  garden,  which  was  heaped  with  the  bodies  of 
the  poor  Swiss  soldiers  and  others.  There  he  lay 
amongst  the  dead  and  wounded  all  day,  not  daring 
to  stir.  At  the  time  the  weather  was  so  very  hot 
that  the  stench  of  the  bodies  became  terrible  in  a 
few  hours. 

Towards  evening  one  of  the  National  Guards, 
who  went  to  look  amongst  the  dead  and  wounded 
for  one  of  his  friends,  found  that  Monsieur  Chan- 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      85 

senets  was  alive.  He  knew  him,  and  told  him  to 
get  up,  and  he  would  lend  him  his  coat,  and  remain 
himself  in  a  waistcoat.  He  then  recommended 
him  to  make  his  escape  as  well  as  he  could,  for  that 
he  could  give  him  no  further  aid;  and  that  what 
he  was  then  doing  would  perhaps  cost  him  his 
life.  Chansenets  went  as  fast  as  he  could  out  of 
the  garden  by  the  Carrousel,  almost  fainting  with 
fatigue,  heat,  want  of  food  and  rest.  When  he 
had  reached  the  Rue  de  I'Echelle  he  could  go  no 
further.  A  poor  woman  who  was  standing  at  her 
shop-door  asked  him  in,  supposing  him  to  be  one 
of  the  soldiers  tired.  He  told  her  that  he  was  an 
Englishman;  that  curiosity  had  led  him  into  the 
palace  in  the  course  of  the  day;  that  the  mob  had 
used  him  ill,  and  that  a  National  soldier  had  lent 
him  his  coat.  He  assured  her  that  he  had  been  all 
day  without  food,  and  begged  her  to  give  him  a 
crust  of  bread  and  a  drop  of  brandy.  As  he  spoke 
bad  French,  with  an  English  accent,  she  believed 
him ;  but  she  told  him  that  he  must  not  stay  there, 
as  she  expected  her  husband  home  every  instant, 
and  she  said  that  he  was  a  Jacobin,  and  detested 
gentlemen.     She  added,  that  she  was  sure  by  the 


86      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

fineness  of  his  linen  he  was  a  noble;  that  her  hus- 
band had  been  very  busy  all  day  murdering  the 
Swiss  soldiers  and  the  King's  friends;  and  that  she 
would  not  at  all  wish  him  to  fall  into  her  husband's 
hands,  as  he  hated  also  the  English.  The  woman 
had  not  had  time  to  get  the  bread  when  her  hus- 
band came  home.  She  had  just  time  to  put  him 
behind  a  press.  She,  however,  had  the  presence 
of  mind  to  stop  her  husband  at  the  door  and  tell 
him  that  one  of  his  friends  was  anxious  to  see  him, 
and  was  waiting  for  him  at  a  cabaret  just  by. 

The  moment  the  man  was  gone  she  pushed 
Chansenets  into  the  street  without  saying  a  word. 
It  was  then  night,  and  he  considered  that  if  he 
could  crawl  to  Lord  Gower's,  who  was  the  English 
ambassador  then  in  Paris,  he  might  there  meet 
with  some  means  of  hiding  himself  at  least  for 
the  night.  The  ambassador  lived  in  the  Faux- 
bourg  St.  Germains  on  the  new  Boulevards. 

On  Chansenets'  arrival  there  he  saw  Mr.  Hus- 
kisson,^"*  Lord  Gower's  secretary,  who  was  very 
kind  to  him,  and  went  to  inform  Lord  Gower  of 
his  being  there.  Lord  Gower,  however,  as  a  pub- 
lic man,  and  not  knowing  what  was  to  become  of 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      87 

himself,  could  not  receive  him,  as  a  strong  procla- 
mation had  been  published  that  night,  and  read 
by  a  man  on  horseback  in  the  streets,  prohibiting 
everybody,  on  pain  of  death,  to  receive  or  give  any 
aid  to  the  proscribed  people  who  were  with  the 
King  in  the  Tuileries,  and  thus  pointing  most  at 
Monsieur  de  Chansenets  as  governor.  Mr.  Hus- 
kisson  lent  him  clothes.  When  he  left  Lord  Gow- 
er's  he  hardly  knew  what  to  do;  nor  had  he  any 
idea  where  to  go.  At  last  he  recollected  having 
seen  some  time  before  an  English  lady  at  my  house, 
who  lived  very  retired  and  kept  but  one  maid,  and 
her  lodging  was  in  a  part  of  Paris  very  private. 
He  thought  that  he  might  venture  to  go  to  her,  and 
try  if  she  could  by  any  means  hide  him  for  that 
night,  as  he  had  no  creature  else  to  whom  he  could 
apply;  for  his  other  friends  had  many  servants, 
who  I  am  sorry  to  say  were  little  to  be  trusted. 

My  friend's  lodging  was  in  the  Rue  de  I'Encre 
behind  the  old  Opera-house.  She  lived  up  four 
pair.  Chansenets  got  to  her  house  late,  having 
gone  through  by-streets.  The  porter  at  the  lodge, 
who  always  draws  a  string,  there  being  other  lodg- 
ers  in   the  house,   only  asked,   "Who's   there?" 


88      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Chansenets  said,  "  Monsieur  Smith,  for  Madame 
Meyler,"  and  as  she  was  at  home  he  went  up. 
She  was  much  surprised  and  terrified  at  seeing  him, 
having  heard  in  the  day  that  he  was  killed.  He 
had  never  been  in  her  house  before,  but  as  he  knew 
that  she  was  a  very  good-natured  woman  and  a 
good  royalist,  he  ran  no  risk.  She  heard  and  saw 
his  distress  with  horror,  for  he  was  in  a  most  de- 
plorable state.  She  had  no  means  of  hiding  him, 
yet  she  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  turning  him  into 
the  streets  at  that  late  hour,  when  he  must  have 
been  taken  by  the  bloodhounds  who  were  in  search 
for  him.  Her  maid  was  a  very  faithful  old 
woman,  and  also  a  royalist;  they  therefore  thought 
it  best  to  confide  in  her,  and  tell  her  what  an  un- 
fortunate man  she  then  had  in  her  power.  She 
then  assured  him  that  as  he  had  had  such  confi- 
dence in  her  she  certainly  thought  she  could  hide 
him  in  the  roof  of  the  room  she  lay  in;  but  that 
:,hc  feared  the  people  who  lived  in  the  house  might 
hear  him;  besides,  that  the  porter  had  seen  him 
go  in  and  had  told  her  that  there  was  a  gentleman 
upstairs  with  her  mistress.  They  therefore  both 
went  down  to  the  door  with  Chansenets  as  if  he 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      89 

were  going  away,  and  wished  him  good-night. 
Mrs.  Meyler  stood  at  the  door  of  the  porter's 
lodge  and  talked  to  him,  whilst  her  old  woman  pre- 
tended to  let  a  little  dog  into  the  street,  during  this 
time  Chansenets  slipped  upstairs;  in  short  they  hid 
him  as  well  as  they  could  that  night. 

The  same  bloody  scenes  continued  the  next  day 
in  Paris.  Poor  Laporte,  the  Intendant  of  Fi- 
nances, was  executed,  as  well  as  many  others,  offi- 
cers of  the  Swiss  Guards.  The  same  proclama- 
tions were  read  in  the  streets  against  the  Governor 
ol  the  Tuileries,  the  Prince  de  Poix,  &c.  The  fate 
of  the  unfortunate  Royal  Family  was  decided  upon 
—  they  were  sent  to  the  Temple.  Domiciliary 
visits  were  made  in  most  parts  of  Paris.*     Mrs. 

*  Let  the  reader  fancy  to  himself  a  vast  metropolis,  the 
streets  of  which  were  a  few  days  hefore  alive  with  the  con- 
course of  carriages,  and  with  citizens  constantly  passing  and 
repassing,  suddenly  struck  with  the  dead  silence  of  the  grave, 
hefore  sunset,  on  a  fine  summer  evening.  All  the  shops  are 
shut ;  everybody  retires  into  the  interior  of  his  house,  trem- 
bling for  life  and  property;  all  are  in  fearful  expectation  of 
the  events  of  a  night  in  which  even  the  efforts  of  despair  are 
not  likely  to  afford  the  least  resource  to  any  individual.  The 
sole  object  of  the  domiciliary  visits,  it  is  pretended,  is  to 
search  for  arms,  yet  the  barriers  are  shut,  and  guarded  with 
the  strictest  vigilance,  and  boats  are  stationed  on  the  river,  at 
regular   distances,    fdled    with    armed    men.     Every   one    sup- 


90      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Meyler  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  her  miserable 
prisoner,  he  being  extremely  ill  with  a  nervous 
fever,  as  they  feared  these  visits,  they  were  obliged 
to  wrap  him  in  a  blanket  and  put  him  down  a  very 
dirty  place,  whence  they  could  only  take  him  out 
when  the  streets  and  houses  were  quiet.  In  short, 
she  contrived  to  hide  him  till  the  2nd  September, 
when  an  order  came  out  that  every  section  was  to 

poses  himself  to  be  informed  against.  Everywhere  persons 
and  property  are  put  into  conceahnent.  Everywhere  are 
heard  the  interrupted  sounds  of  the  muffled  hammer,  with 
cautious  knock,  completing  the  hiding-place.  Roofs,  garrets, 
sinks,  chimneys  —  all  are  just  the  same  to  fear,  incapable  of 
calculating  any  risk.  One  man  squeezed  up  behind  the  wains- 
cot, which  had  been  nailed  back  on  him,  seems  to  form  a 
part  of  the  wall :  another  is  suffocated  with  fear  and  heat 
between  two  mattresses ;  a  third,  rolled  up  in  a  cask,  loses 
all  sense  of  existence  by  the  tension  of  his  sinews.  Appre- 
hension is  stronger  than  power.  jMen  tremble,  but  they  do 
not  shed  tears :  the  heart  shivers,  the  eye  is  dull,  and  the 
breast  contracted.  Women,  on  this  occasion,  display  prodi- 
gies of  tenderness  and  intrepidity.  It  was  by  them  that 
most  of  the  men  were  concealed.  It  was  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning  when  the  domiciliary  visits  began.  Patrols,  con- 
sisting of  sixty  pikemen,  were  in  every  street.  The  noctur- 
nal tumult  of  so  many  armed  men;  the  incessant  knocks  to 
make  people  open  their  doors ;  the  crash  of  those  which  were 
burst  off  their  hinges;  and  the  continual  uproar  and  revelling 
which  took  place  throughout  the  night  in  all  the  public- 
houses,  formed  a  picture  which  will  never  be  effaced  from 
my  memory. —  Peltier. 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      91 

make  visits  at  different  hours  of  the  night  in  every 
house,  and  that  the  search  was  to  be  very  severe. 
It  then  became  impossible  for  her  to  keep  Mon- 
sieur de  Chansenets  any  longer.  She  knew  that  I 
had  not  been  In  Paris  since  the  loth  of  August, 
and  she  therefore  wrote  me  the  note  which  I  have 
already  mentioned,  requesting  me  to  come  to  Paris. 


CHAPTER  IV 


CHAPTER  IV 

I  have  already  given  an  account  of  the  surprise 
of  the  soldiers  on  my  entering  Paris  at  such  a  mo- 
ment of  general  consternation.  On  my  road  to 
Mrs.  Meyler's,  I  met  the  mob  on  the  Boulevard, 
with  the  head  and  body  of  the  unfortunate  Princess 
de  Lamballe,  which  they  had  just  brought  from  La 
Force,  where  they  had  murdered  her;  and  in  com- 
ing from  thence  they  had  had  the  barbarity  to 
take  it  to  the  Temple,  to  show  the  poor  Queen.  At 
that  moment,  indeed,  I  wished  that  I  had  not  come 
into  Paris.  On  reaching  my  friend's  house,  I  was 
much  surprised  to  find  that  it  was  poor  Chansenets 
about  whom  she  had  interested  herself.  I  had 
seen  a  great  deal  of  him  before  the  Revolution,  at 
the  Duke  of  Orleans',  but  I  had  no  very  particular 
friendship  for  him.  He  was  now  in  such  a  weak 
state  that  he  could  hardly  support  himself.  I  was 
very  much  affected  to  see  him  in  such  a  situation 

95 


96      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

at  such  a  moment.  I  thought  by  getting  him  out 
of  Paris  that  night,  which  I  imagined  might  very 
easily  be  done,  he  would  have  a  good  chance  of 
escaping  from  the  Jacobins.  It  was  seven  o'clock 
when  I  arrived  at  my  friend's  house.  It  was  still 
too  light  to  venture  into  the  streets  in  an  open 
cabriolet  with  this  poor  man.  I  therefore  waited 
until  it  was  quite  dark.  We  then  went  directly  to 
the  Barrier  de  Vaugirard,  which  was  our  way  out 
of  Paris.  I  made  not  the  least  doubt  that  on 
showing  my  passport  we  should  get  out  of  Paris 
directly.  I  was,  however,  shocked  and  thunder- 
struck to  find  that  they  refused  to  let  us  pass, 
though  I  assured  them  that  I  had  no  sort  of  resi- 
dence in  Paris,  nor  did  I  know  where  to  go.  I 
entreated  them,  for  God's  sake,  to  let  me  go  home; 
but  all  to  no  purpose.  Their  orders  were  such, 
that  they  told  me  I  should  not  be  able  to  get  out  of 
any  barrier  in  Paris;  and  they  advised  me  to  go 
and  get  myself  a  bed,  or  I  should  be  taken  up  as 
soon  as  it  was  ten  o'clock,  for  at  that  hour  the 
domiciliary  visits  were  to  begin,  when  no  carriages 
were  allowed  to  be  in  the  streets. 

The  sad  situation  of  both  Chansenets  and  my- 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR     97 

self  at  this  moment  may  easily  be  believed.  He 
was  almost  dead  with  alarm,  and  my  knees  were 
knocking  together;  and  what  added  to  my  distress 
was  the  heat  of  the  night.  I  ordered  our  driver  to 
turn  back.  He  asked  me  where  he  was  to  go  ?  I 
didn't  know  what  to  say:  I  was  afraid  of  raising 
the  suspicion  of  the  guards,  who  were  not  so  civil 
as  those  of  the  morning.  I  did  not  dare  go  to 
my  own  home  with  Chansenets,  as  all  my  servants 
knew  him,  and  I  had  a  Jacobin  cook  whom  I  could 
not  trust.  Indeed  I  had  not  been  in  my  house  since 
the  loth  of  August,  and  my  servants  would  have 
been  surprised  to  see  me  arrive  there  at  such  an 
hour  with  a  man.  I  therefore  did  not  dare  to 
think  of  my  own  house,  in  company  with  poor 
Chansenets.  I  accordingly  ordered  the  man  to 
drive  to  the  Barrier  de  I'Enfer,  as  I  could  have 
got  thence  to  Meudon.  I  was  as  little  successful 
there,  however;  and  as  Chansenets  never  spoke,  I 
began  to  fear  that  our  conductor  would  suspect  us. 
I  ordered  him  to  drive  to  the  Alices  des  Invalides, 
on  the  Boulevards,  as  I  thought  of  my  friend  the 
gardener,  though  with  little  hopes.  It  was  now 
ten  o'clock,  and  I  was  much  afraid  that  we  should 


98      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

meet  the  patrols.  Luckily  we  arrived  at  the  place 
where  we  were  to  take  leave  of  our  cabriolet  friend. 
I  could  hardly  get  out,  being  In  such  a  tremble; 
but  I  cannot  express  what  my  feelings  of  alarm 
were  when  I  saw  him  supporting  Chansenets,  and 
he  not  able  to  stand.  I  pretended  to  be  in  a  great 
passion,  and  told  the  man  that  my  servant  was 
drunk.  He  said  that  he  was  sorry  for  it,  but 
that  he  must  go  home,  as  he  had  no  mind  to  be 
taken  up  for  us.  Accordingly  he  drove  off;  and 
Chansenets  and  I  sat  down  for  two  minutes  at  the 
foot  of  one  of  the  trees.  The  air  soon  revived 
him  a  little,  and  he  was  able  to  stand. 

I  expected  every  moment  that  we  should  be 
taken  up;  and  had  that  been  the  case  we  had  not 
long  to  live,  for  we  had  little  mercy  to  expect. 
We  turned  up  an  avenue  which  led  to  my  garden- 
er's house,  but  at  this  moment  we  saw,  with  horror, 
the  troops  at  the  further  end  of  the  avenue,  and 
patrols  coming  our  way.  Monsieur  Chansenets 
had  been  very  ill  ever  since  his  fever;  and  being 
unable  to  support  him,  from  weakness  and  agita- 
tion, arising  from  the  certainty  of  our  dangerous 
situation,  I  burst  into  tears.     He,  poor  man,  then 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      99 

entreated  me  to  give  him  up  to  the  first  patrol,  and 
by  that  means  save  my  own  Hfe;  as  he  said  he  saw 
with  horror  the  cruel  situation  Into  which  he  had 
bro'^ght  me,  and  that  we  had  now  no  chance  of 
being  saved. 

This  idea  was  terrible  to  me.  Had  the  scaf- 
fold been  then  before  me,  I  could  not  have  aban- 
doned him,  or  anybody  else  in  a  similar  situation. 
I  soon  began  to  feel  more  courage,  and  we  turned 
round  and  crossed  the  Pont  Neuf  at  the  Palais 
Bourbon,  and  got  to  the  Champs  Elysees.  We 
were  fortunate  enough  to  avoid  two  patrols. 
When,  however,  we  got  there,  I  was  as  much  at  a 
loss  as  ever.  What  was  to  become  of  us?  It 
was  nearly  eleven  o'clock,  and  none  but  soldiers 
were  to  be  seen  about  the  streets.  We  could  not 
remain  long  unnoticed  where  we  were.  I  was  very 
near  my  own  house,  which  I  could  see  from  the 
Champs  Elysees;  but  I  could  not  risk  going  there 
with  my  unfortunate  companion.  I  might  as  well 
have  given  him  up  to  the  soldiers,  as  expose  him  to 
my  cook.  I  could  have  depended  on  my  own  maid 
and  porter,  but  I  did  not  dare.  I  was  much  fa- 
tigued;  and   Chansenets  was   fainting.     He  once 


100      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

more  entreated  me  to  give  him  up,  and  to  go  to  my 
comfortable  home.  This  I  assured  him  I  would 
never  do ;  that  since  I  had  undertaken  to  save  him, 
I  would  do  It,  or  perish  with  him. 

Chansenets  then  asked  me  if  I  thought  we  could 
by  any  means  get  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans'  house  at 
Monceau,  and  hide  ourselves  in  the  garden,  Mon- 
ceau  being  now  Inside  the  walls  of  Paris,  and  not 
far  from  the  spot  where  we  then  were.  He 
thought  that  no  domiciliary  visits  would  be  made 
there;  that  If  the  Duke  knew  it,  he  would  say 
nothing  on  my  account;  and  he  thought  he  remem- 
bered a  place  where  we  might  get  in  without  be- 
ing seen.  I  did  not  like  this  plan,  as  I  had  known 
nothing  of  the  Duke  for  some  time,  nor  did  I  know 
where  he  was,  and  I  always  feared  his  servants; 
but  this  was  our  last  and  only  resource. 

I  could  hardly  get  to  Monceau  by  a  private  road 
without  passing  my  own  door,  and  crossing  the 
fields.  When  we  came  to  the  end  of  the  Rue 
Miromenil,  where  I  lived,  and  of  which  one  end 
went  into  the  fields,  and  the  other  into  the  Champs 
Elysees,  we  saw  my  servants  sitting  out  at  the 
gates,  and  amongst  them  my  Jacobin  cook.     I  was 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      loi 

much  alarmed  at  seeing  this.  However,  there  was 
a  building  near  my  house  not  yet  finished,  and  I 
persuaded  Monsieur  de  Chansenets  to  go  into  it, 
whilst  I  went  to  my  own  house  to  see  what  I  could 
do.  He  did  so;  and  I  went  up  by  myself  to  my 
servants,  who  were  much  alarmed  at  seeing  me 
come  thither  alone  and  on  foot,  at  so  late  an  hour, 
nearly  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  when  they  thought 
that  I  was  in  the  country.  I  told  them  that  I  had 
heard  at  Meudon  of  the  horrors  which  were  going 
on  in  Paris;  that  I  could  not  rest  in  the  country; 
and  that  I  had  taken  a  cabriolet,  which  brought  me 
to  the  barriers,  and  that  I  had  walked  from  there. 
They  related  to  me  all  the  murders  which  had  been 
committed,  and  I  sent  for  my  cook  into  the  room 
and  told  her  that  I  had  eaten  nothing  all  day,  that 
I  was  faint  with  hunger,  and  that  if  it  cost  ten  louis 
I  must  have  a  roast  fowl  and  salad.  She  assured 
me  that  nobody  was  allowed  to  go  into  the  streets, 
that  she  should  be  taken  up,  and  that  nobody  would 
sell  anything  at  such  an  hour.  I  told  her  that  she 
must  try,  or  I  should  turn  her  out  of  my  house 
the  next  day.  Just  as  she  was  going  out  of  the 
room  Monsieur  Chansenets  knocked  at  my  gates. 


102       DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

He  had  been  frightened  by  seeing  the  patrols  com- 
ing into  the  street,  and  hardly  knew  what  he  was 
doing.  On  his  entering  my  room  both  myself  and 
servants  screamed.  I  pretended  not  to  have  seen 
him  before,  and  asked  him  how  he  could  think  of 
coming  to  my  house  at  such  an  hour,  and  in  such 
a  dreadful  moment.  He  understood  me,  and  said 
that  he  had  been  before  the  mayor,  had  been  ex- 
amined and  acquitted;  that  they  had  given  him 
leave  to  go  to  his  own  house,  which  was  at  Mon- 
ceau,  near  that  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  My  cook 
told  him  that  the  scaffold  had  been  ready  all  day 
for  him,  and  that  a  reward  was  offered  to  take  him, 
but  that  she  would  not  do  him  any  harm  then, 
though  she  knew  that  he  was  a  nasty  aristocrat; 
and  she  wondered  at  his  coming  to  my  house  to 
expose  me,  and  put  them  all  in  danger  of  being 
taken  up  as  conspirators. 

I  pretended  to  be  very  angry,  and  Chansenets 
said  that  he  would  go  directly.  The  cook  then 
went  out,  as  I  ordered  her,  and  I  was  left  with 
my  porter  and  his  wife,  my  own  servant  being 
from  home,  as  she  was  afraid  that  one  of  her  sons 
was  murdered.      My  porter,  who  was  present,  told 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      103 

me  that  I  could  not  get  out  of  the  street  to  go  to 
the  Duke's,  for  the  domiciliary  visits  had  begun. 
In  this  dilemma  we  did  not  know  what  to  do  with 
this  poor  man.  My  cook  I  had  managed  to  get 
rid  of,  but  she  might  soon  return.  Monsieur 
Chansenets  was  almost  in  fits,  and  in  a  deplorable 
state  from  extreme  weakness;  in  short,  he  could 
not  support  himself.  My  porter  thought  that  he 
might  be  hid  between  the  mattresses  of  my  bed, 
which  were  very  large,  and  in  an  alcove.  We  ac- 
cordingly pulled  two  of  the  mattresses  out  further 
than  the  others,  and  made  a  space  next  the  wall, 
and  put  him  in.  When  he  was  there,  we  found 
that  the  bed  looked  tumbled,  and  of  course  sus- 
picious. I  then  decided  upon  getting  into  bed  my- 
self, which  prevented  any  appearance  of  a  person 
being  hid.  I  had  all  my  curtains  festooned  up; 
my  chandeliers  and  candelabra  lighted,  which  in 
all  formed  about  twenty  candles,  as  bed-rooms  in 
France  are  much  ornamented.  My  cook  soon 
came  home,  and  I  made  her  sit  by  my  bedside  the 
rest  of  the  night.  She  abused  Monsieur  Chanse- 
nets, and  said  that  she  was  sure  he  would  be  guil- 
lotined; that  she  hoped  I  had  turned  him  out  di- 


104       DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

rectly :  in  short,  she  had  not  the  most  distant  idea 
of  his  being  in  my  house. 

My  own  attendant  now  came  home  from  visit- 
ing her  son.  She  was  a  good  woman,  and  as  faith- 
ful as  possible,  yet  as  she  had  not  been  there  when 
Chansenets  was  hid,  I  thought  that  it  was  better 
not  to  tell  her  anything  about  it  till  after  the 
domiciliary  visit  had  been  made.  I  had  some 
warm  negus  by  my  bedside,  and  when  my  maid 
and  the  cook  went  out  of  the  room  to  see  what  was 
going  on,  I  could  just  get  at  Chansenets  to  give 
him  a  teaspoonful  of  it.  Indeed,  I  was  frightened 
to  death,  for  I  heard  him  breathe  hard,  and 
thought  that  he  was  dying,  and  I  expected  every 
minute  that  my  cook  would  hear  him.  In  short, 
I  passed  a  most  miserable  night,  surrounded  by  my 
servants,  and  almost  in  fits  myself  at  the  idea  of  the 
horrid  visit  I  was  going  to  receive.  I  trembled  so 
much,  that  I  could  hardly  keep  in  bed,  and  the  un- 
fortunate man,  who  was  the  cause  of  my  misery,  I 
thought  perhaps  lay  dead  near  me,  for  I  could  not 
hear  him  breathe  at  times. 

At  a  quarter  before  four  o'clock  my  cook  hur- 
ried into  mv  room,  telling  me  that  the  guards  had 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      105 

arrived  in  my  court,  and  that  the  municipal  offi- 
cers were  coming  in.  No  pen  or  words  can  give 
the  smallest  idea  of  my  feelings  at  that  moment.  I 
felt  that  I  was  lost,  nor  did  I  know  where  I  was; 
but  a  very  deep  groan  from  my  companion  roused 
me  in  a  moment,  and  God  inspired  me  with  more 
courage  than  I  had  ever  felt  in  my  life.  So  strong 
was  my  abhorrence  of  the  horrid  acts  which  were 
being  committed,  that  I  am  certain  I  could  have 
mounted  the  scaffold  with  pleasure.  Had  the 
guards  come  into  my  room  at  that  moment,  I  might 
have  lost  both  myself  and  Chansenets,  for  I  was 
determined  to  brave  every  danger,  and  to  give  my- 
self up  to  them.  Fortunately  they  visited  every 
part  of  my  house  before  they  came  into  my  room, 
and  pulled  my  maid's  bed  and  all  the  servants'  beds 
to  pieces,  running  their  bayonets  into  the  mattresses 
and  feather-beds,  swearing  that  they  would  not 
leave  the  house  till  they  had  found  Chansenets. 
My  maid  and  my  cook,  not  knowing  that  he  was 
in  the  house,  were  ver}'  bold  and  feared  nothing; 
but  the  men  said  that  he  was  seen  to  go  into  the 
house,  and  not  go  out. 

This  long  search  gave  me  time  to  cool,  and  to 


io6      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

consider  my  deplorable  situation.  Although  my 
own  life  was  of  Httle  value,  still  I  had  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  the  unfortunate  man  near  me  did 
not  value  his.  I  therefore  thought  that  I  had  no 
right  to  commit  any  act  of  desperation,  as  the  life 
of  a  fellow-creature  depended  on  my  conduct. 
These  were,  in  truth,  my  reflections  when  the  ruf- 
fians burst  with  violence  and  horrid  imprecations 
into  my  room.  I  was  then  perfectly  calm,  full  of 
presence  of  mind,  and  indeed  inspired  with  a  cour- 
age equal  to  anything  earthly.  The  candles  were 
all  a-llght,  day  was  breaking,  and  my  room  looked 
more  like  a  ball-room  than  a  scene  of  the  horrors 
which  were  passing.  They  came  all  up  to  my  bed, 
and  asked  me  to  get  up.  One  of  them,  however, 
less  hard  than  the  others,  said  that  there  was  no  oc- 
casion to  take  me  out  of  bed,  as  I  could  not  dress 
before  so  many  men.  They  were  above  forty.  I 
said  directly  that  I  would  get  up  with  pleasure  If 
they  required  me  to  do  so,  but  that  I  had  passed 
a  very  cruel  night,  and  was  tired  of  my  bed.  I 
had  expected  them,  I  said,  at  an  earlier  hour,  and 
then  had  hoped  to  pass  the  rest  of  the  night  In 
quiet.     I  owned  that  I  had  been  much  alarmed  at 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      107 

the  idea  of  such  a  visit  in  the  dead  of  the  night, 
but  that  now  I  saw  how  considerate,  kind,  and 
good  they  were,  I  was  not  the  least  alarmed,  and 
that  if  they  pleased  I  would  get  up  and  conduct 
them  about  my  house  myself.  I  added,  that  I  was 
sure  they  must  be  much  fatigued,  and  proposed 
wine  or  liqueurs  and  cold  pie  to  them. 

Some  of  the  head  men  were  delighted  with  me, 
cut  some  very  indecent  jokes,  said  that  nobody  they 
had  seen  the  whole  night  had  been  half  so  civil; 
that  they  were  sorry  they  had  not  come  sooner, 
in  order  that  I  might  have  had  a  good  night  when 
they  were  gone.  They  would  not  now  make  me 
get  up,  but  were  obliged  to  go  on  with  their  visit, 
and  must  search  everywhere  in  my  bed  and  under 
my  bed.  They,  however,  only  felt  the  top  of  my 
bed  and  at  its  feet,  and  then  under  the  bed.  They 
also  undid  all  the  sofa  cushions,  both  in  my  room 
and  into  my  boudoir  and  drawing-room,  looked  in 
my  bathing-room ;  and,  in  short,  were  an  hour  in 
and  out  of  my  room.  I  expected  every  moment 
that  they  would  again  search  the  bed,  as  some  of 
them  grumbled,  and  said  that  I  should  get  up,  and 
that  they  had  information  of  Chansencts  being  in 


io8      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

my  house.  I  said  that  they  knew  my  cook,  and 
might  ask  her  In  what  manner  I  had  received  him 
when  he  came,  and  that  I  made  him  leave  the 
house  directly.  She  assured  them  of  the  truth  of 
this,  and  that  she  was  certain  I  would  not  have 
harboured  so  great  a  foe  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 
They  said  that  we  should  have  given  him  up  to 
justice,  and  have  sent  to  them  to  take  him  up,  as 
it  would  have  made  their  fortunes.  I  replied, 
though  I  disliked  him,  yet  I  did  not  like  to  de- 
nounce anybody.  They  declared  that  I  was  then 
a  bad  citoyenne,  and  wished  to  know  where  they 
could  find  him.  I  told  them  that  he  said  he  was 
going  home.  They  replied  that  they  did  not  be- 
lieve he  would  do  that;  but  that  if  he  was  in 
Paris  they  would  find  him  in  twenty-four  hours. 
They  then  came  back  to  my  bed,  and  one  of  them 
sat  down  on  It. 

It  may  easily  be  supposed  In  what  a  state  of 
alarm  poor  Chansenets  was  during  this  long  visit. 
I  had  heard  nothing  of  him,  nor  heard  him  breathe. 
At  last  the  monsters  advised  me  to  take  some  rest, 
and  wished  me  good  night.  They  stayed  some 
time  longer  In  my  house,  during  which  time  I  was 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      109 

afraid  of  moving.  At  last  I  heard  the  gates  shut, 
and  my  servants  came  Into  my  room  and  told  me 
that  they  were  all  gone.  I  went  Into  violent  hys- 
terics, and  was  very  much  frightened.  When  I  re- 
covered a  little  I  desired  my  cook  and  other  serv- 
ants to  leave  the  room  and  go  to  bed,  saying  that 
I  would  take  something,  and  go  to  rest  myself.  I 
directed  my  maid  to  bolt  my  room-doors,  and  then 
I  disclosed  to  her  what  I  had  done,  and  who  was  In 
the  bed.  She  screamed  with  dread  when  she  heard 
it  and  said  that  she  never  could  have  gone  through 
the  visit  had  she  known  It. 

We  now  got  our  prisoner  out  of  the  bed  with 
great  difficulty,  for  when  he  heard  the  guards  come 
into  the  room  he  had  tried  to  keep  in  his  breath 
as  much  as  possible,  and  having  been  so  smothered 
he  was  as  wet  as  If  he  had  been  In  a  bath,  and 
speechless.  We  laid  him  on  the  ground,  opened 
the  windows,  and  my  maid  made  him  drink  a  large 
glass  of  brandy.  At  last  he  came  to  himself,  was 
full  of  gratitude  to  me  —  had  been  both  frightened 
and  surprised  at  my  courage  when  the  men  were 
In  the  room,  and  the  more  so  when  I  offered  to 
get  out  of  bed. 


no      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

I  was  very  ill  myself  from  the  agitation  I  had 
been  in  for  the  last  four-and-twenty  hours.  We 
contrived  to  make  the  bed  in  my  boudoir  for  our 
guest,  but  were  obliged  to  be  very  cautious  for 
fear  of  my  cook,  as  none  of  my  servants  had  gone 
to  bed  at  so  late  an  hour.  We  locked  him  in  the 
room,  and  my  maid  took  the  key.  I  then  went  to 
bed,  but  had  no  rest,  and  rang  my  bell  at  two 
o'clock;  I  was  almost  dead  with  agitation.  How- 
ever, I  got  up,  and  my  maid  went  into  our  prison- 
er's room.  She  found  him  in  a  high  fever  and 
almost  delirious,  and  crying;  in  short,  he  was  in  a 
most  dreadful  state.  We  were  distracted,  for  fear 
of  a  discovery:  had  he  died,  where  could  we  have 
put  him,  or  what  could  we  have  done? 

We  were  considering  all  this,  when  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  came  in.  He  was  going  to  his  house  at 
Monceau,  and  seeing  my  gates  open,  had  asked 
if  I  was  in  town.  He  was  struck  at  my  ill  looks 
and  seeming  distress,  and  was  anxious  to  know  the 
cause  of  it.  I  told  him  the  same  story  I  had  told 
my  servants  the  night  before,  and  then  related  to 
him  the  very  horrid  visit  I  had  had  in  the  night, 
and  how  much  alarmed  I  had  been.     He  assured 


Duke    ui    Orleans,    Philippe    J''.i;alilc 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      iii 

me  that  if  I  had  nobody  hid  in  my  house  there  was 
no  need  to  have  alarmed  myself  so  much;  but  if 
I  had,  I  certainly  was  in  a  dangerous  situation.  I 
told  him  that  I  had  not  been  fortunate  enough  to 
save  anybody  in  the  dreadful  night ;  that  I  wished 
that  It  had  been  in  my  power  to  do  it  even  at  the 
risk  of  my  own  life;  that  I  thought  the  scenes  of 
yesterday  and  this  night  were  horrible ;  and  I  hoped 
they  would  cure  all  the  admirers  of  the  abomina- 
ble Revolution. 

The  Duke  replied  that  "  they  were  indeed  dread- 
ful, but  that  In  all  revolutions  much  blood  had 
been  spilt,  and  that  no  stop  could  be  put  to  it  when 
once  begun."  He  told  me  of  the  horrid  murder 
of  Madame  de  Lamballe  —  of  their  bringing  her 
head  to  the  Palais  Royal  whilst  he  was  at  dinner. 
He  seemed  much  shocked  at  her  fate,  and  said  he 
had  done  everything  In  his  power  to  save  her. 
From  what  I  afterwards  heard  I  am  certain  that 
this  was  true,  for  at  all  times  I  heard  him  express 
great  affection  for  this  unfortunate  Princess.  He 
stayed  some  time  with  me,  was  In  very  low 
spirits,  said  that  "  revolutions  ought  to  be  of  great 
use,  and  better  our  children,   for  they  were  very 


112      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

dreadful  for  those  who  witnessed  and  felt  them." 
I  said  that  "  I  wished  he  had  remained  In  Eng- 
land when  he  was  there."  He  replied  that  "  he 
should  have  liked  It,  but  that  they  would  not  let 
him  stay  there;  that  they  taxed  him  with  having 
left  France  through  fear  of  Lafayette,  and  of  his 
having  attempted  the  King's  life."  He  added 
that  "  nothing  could  have  kept  him  longer  out  of 
France  when  he  heard  such  reports.  By  his  pres- 
ence he  would  show  the  world  he  had  no  fear  of 
Lafayette;  that  he  had  always  been  cruelly  used 
by  the  Court;  that  when  he  did  anything  with  good 
Intentions,  they  Imputed  It  to  a  bad  motive.  He 
assured  me  he  had  always  envied  the  life  of  an 
English  country  gentleman;  and  that  though  his 
enemies  taxed  him  with  wishing  to  be  king,  he 
would  willingly  change  his  lot  and  all  his  fortune 
for  a  small  estate  In  England,  and  the  privileges  of 
that  delightful  country,  which  he  hoped  to  see  once 
more."  He  asked  me  If  "  I  thought  him  monster 
enough  to  be  going  through  the  streets  of  Paris 
on  such  a  day  as  yesterday  and  to-day,  and  not  feel 
unhappy." 

I  then  entreated  him  to  get  out  of  the  hands  of 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      113 

the  vile  people  who  surrounded  him,  and  not  to  let 
wretches  make  use  of  his  name  to  commit  such 
horrid  acts. 

He  replied  "  All  this  seems  easy  to  do  in  your 
drawing-room:  I  wish  that  I  could  find  it  as  easy, 
but  I  am  in  the  torrent,  and  must  rise  or  fall  with 
it.  I  am  no  longer  master  of  myself  or  of  my 
name,  and  you  can  be  no  judge  of  my  situation, 
which  is,  I  assure  you,  not  a  pleasant  one.  Don't 
plague  me  any  more;  don't  talk  in  this  style  to  your 
servants,  nor  indeed  to  anybody  else.  We  are  all 
surrounded  by  spies,  and  if  you  get  yourself  into 
a  scrape  I  cannot  save  you;  so,  for  God's  sake, 
keep  your  politics  to  yourself,  and  plague  me  no 
more  on  this  subject;  it  will  be  of  no  use." 

I  was  half  inclined  to  tell  him  about  Chansenets, 
but  I  would  not  do  it  till  I  heard  from  him  whether 
he  thought  it  safe,  as  the  Duke  disliked  him  much, 
and  thought  that  he  had  been  ungrateful  to  him 
after  the  Revolution,  for  the  Duke  had  given  him 
(Chansenets)  one  of  his  own  regiments,  though  the 
Queen  had  begged  it  of  the  Duke  for  somebody 
else,  and  she  was  extremely  angry  about  it.  In- 
deed, no  regiment  of  a  prince  of  the  blood  had 


iii4      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

ever  been  given  to  a  man  of  the  same  sort  of  rank, 
as  Chansenets;  they  were  always  given  to  the  old 
noblesse.  When  the  Revolution  broke  out,  Chan- 
senets certainly  behaved  ill  to  the  Duke,  and  had 
much  displeased  him.  I  was  therefore  more  cau- 
tious of  telling  him  on  that  account,  though  I  knew 
he  might  with  safety  be  trusted  without  the  least 
fear  of  his  making  an  ill  use  of  the  confidence. 

The  Duke  said  he  "  was  sorry  that  I  had  come 
into  Paris;  that  he  feared  I  should  not  get  out 
of  it  for  some  days,  as  the  barriers  were  ordered 
to  be  kept  shut  whilst  the  visits  were  being  made 
in  search  of  conspirators."  I  was  distressed  to 
hear  this,  being  at  a  loss  to  know  how  to  keep  my 
unfortunate  prisoner  longer  in  my  house  in  Paris, 
so  many  spies  were  about  me.  Besides,  they  might 
again  make  me  a  midnight  visit.  I  therefore  en- 
treated the  Duke  to  try  through  his  interest  to  get 
me  a  passport;  but  he  assured  me  that  "he  had 
not  interest  enough  to  get  one,  and  thought  that 
as  I  had  been  foolish  enough  to  come  into  Paris 
at  such  a  moment,  I  had  better  stay  quietly  in  my 
own  house,  and  see  nobody,  and  then  go  back  to 
Meudon  as  soon  as  the  barriers  were  opened.      By 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      115 

pursuing  this  course  nobody  would  take  notice  of 
me,  but  that  if  I  seemed  so  eager  to  leave  Paris, 
they  might  suspect  something." 

He  told  me  that  the  person  who  had  the  man- 
agement of  the  barriers  was  Robespierre,  a  man 
whom  he  hated,  and  who  hated  the  English.  The 
Duke  then  took  leave  of  me,  after  staying  about 
three  hours.  He  assured  me  that  he  "  would  see 
me  next  morning  before  he  went  to  the  Convention, 
where  he  was  obliged  to  be  at  twelve  o'clock."  He 
said  he  thought  I  was  looking  very  ill,  and  wished 
me  much  to  see  his  physician,  whose  name  was 
Seffert.     I  refused  however  to  see  him. 

As  soon  as  the  Duke  had  left  my  house,  I  sent 
my  maid  into  our  prisoner's  room,  where  he  had 
been  during  the  Duke's  visit  in  great  distress,  hav- 
ing heard  every  word  which  passed.  He  said  that 
he  wondered  "  I  had  not  told  the  truth;  that  he 
seemed  well-disposed  and  good-natured;  and  that 
perhaps  had  he  known  the  dangerous  situation  I 
was  in  with  him  in  my  house,  he  would  have  found 
some  means  of  getting  me  out  of  Paris  by  the  town- 
wall,  some  part  of  which  is  in  his  gardens."  I 
assured  Chansenets  that  I  had  only  deceived  the 


ii6      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Duke  from  not  thinking  It  fair  to  divulge  a  secret 
of  such  importance  without  first  having  his  consent; 
but  as  the  Duke  was  coming  the  next  morning  I 
would  then  tell  him  the  exact  story.  He  said  that 
he  wished  the  Duke  would  see  him;  for  he  could 
vindicate  himself  respecting  his  seeming  ingrati- 
tude,—  as  never  being  able  to  leave  the  King,  and 
being  governor  of  the  Tuilerles,  It  had  been  out  of 
his  power  to  pay  the  Duke  the  proper  attention  he 
wished  to  do. 

The  next  morning,  September  the  4th,  the  Duke 
came  to  breakfast  with  me  before  eleven  o'clock. 
He  was  very  low-spirited.  I  enquired  of  him  if 
any  new  horrors  were  going  on?  He  said  that 
"he  knew  nothing;  that  he  was  just  come  from 
Monceau ;  but  that  he  should  hear  news  at  the  Con- 
vention." 

I  said  that  "  I  hoped  the  Royal  Family  were 
well,  and  that  they  were  well  used  In  the  horrid 
Temple." 

He  replied  that  "  he  believed  and  hoped  that 
they  were;  though  he  was  sure  that  they  would 
not  be  sorry  for  him.  If  he  was  In  a  worse  situa- 
tion." 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      117 

I  asked  him  "  how  they  could  keep  the  poor 
King  and  his  innocent  family  in  confinement?  " 

He  said,  "  Because  when  he  was  at  liberty  he 
was  ill  surrounded,  and  broke  his  word  and  oath 
to  the  nation." 

I  then  told  the  Duke  in  as  quiet  a  manner  as 
I  could  what  I  had  done.  He  seemed  much  sur- 
prised, and  assured  me  that  "  I  should  be  found 
out;  that  I  was  in  great  danger;  and  that  most 
certainly  if  Chansenets  did  not  get  by  some  means 
or  other  out  of  Paris,  he  would  be  taken,  and  that 
both  he  and  I  would  be  executed." 

I  then  entreated  him  either  to  get  Chansenets 
out  of  Paris,  or  to  suffer  him  to  be  hid  in  his  house 
at  Monceau.  The  Duke  assured  me  that  "  such 
a  plan  was  impossible;  that  all  his  servants  were 
spies  from  the  Jacobin  Club;  and  that  the  part  of 
the  town-wall  to  which  I  alluded  was  surrounded 
by  troops;  in  short,  that  he  saw  no  means  of  his 
getting  away."  He  added  that  he  was  distressed 
and  sorry  for  the  scrape  I  had  got  into;  that  I  must 
be  cautious,  and  trust  nobody  with  the  secret,  but 
contrive  to  conceal  him  till  the  barriers  were 
opened,  and  then  get  rid  of  him  as  fast  as  I  could, 


ii8      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

though  he  really  saw  little  chance  of  my  being  in 
any  safety. 

He  asked  me  "where  I  concealed  him?"  I 
said  "  in  the  roof  of  my  house,"  as  I  did  not  wish 
the  Duke  to  know  that  he  had  heard  our  conversa- 
tion. He  told  me  that  "  I  had  exposed  my  life  for 
a  very  bad  purpose,  for  that  Chansenets  was  a 
good-for-nothing  creature ;  that  many  better  people 
had  been  taken  up  and  executed;  that  he  wished  I 
had  saved  anybody  else;  and  that  it  would  be  cruel 
if  I  was  to  lose  my  life  for  such  a  poor  miserable 
being." 

I  was  sorry  that  Chansenets  should  hear  all 
this;  however,  I  could  not  help  it.  The  Duke  in- 
quired of  me  "  whether  Chansenets  knew  that  he 
was  to  be  let  into  this  secret."  I  assured  the  Duke 
that  I  had  told  him  by  Chansenets'  own  desire; 
that  he  would  give  the  world  to  see  the  Duke ;  that 
he  could  explain  his  conduct;  and  that  he  hoped 
and  trusted  for  pardon,  and  that  the  Duke  would 
put  him  in  the  way  of  saving  his  life. 

The  Duke  said  that  "it  would  be  impossible; 
that  it  would  be  very  imprudent  in  him  to  see 
Chansenets;  for  that  some  of  my  servants  would 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      119 

know  it."  I  assured  him  that  he  might  see  him 
without  any  creature  knowing  it  but  my  maid,  who 
he  was  aware  was  much  attached  to  both  himself 
and  me.  He  did  not  seem  to  like  it,  and  then 
looking  at  his  watch,  said  that  "  he  must  go  directly 
to  the  Convention;  that  he  was  then  nearly  an 
hour  too  late;  that  he  left  me  with  regret  in  such 
a  dangerous  situation;  wished  I  had  been  more 
prudent;  that  he  would  see  what  he  could  do  to  get 
this  man  out  of  my  house,  but  entreated  me  to  keep 
my  politics  to  myself.  He  wished  to  God  I  was 
safe  in  England,  for  he  thought  something  would 
happen  to  me  here."  On  leaving  he  promised  to 
see  me  the  next  day,  and  I  ventured  to  say,  "  And 
pray  see  Chansenets."  He  answered,  "  Nous  ver- 
rons  cela.'^ 

When  I  went  in  to  Chansenets  I  found  him  as 
ill  as  possible.  The  manner  in  which  the  Duke 
had  talked  of  him  had  alarmed  him  to  a  great  de- 
gree, and  he  thought  that  he  was  gone  to  get  him 
taken  up.  I  assured  him  that  he  had  nothing  to 
fear  on  that  ground;  that  I  thought  the  Duke 
would  see  him,  and  try  to  do  something  for  him 
the  next  day. 


120      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

My  maid  was  in  Chansenets'  room  all  the  rest 
of  the  day  and  evening,  trying  to  console  him. 
We  were  obliged  to  give  him  ether :  at  every  knock 
he  heard  at  the  gates  he  thought  it  was  the  guards. 
When  my  servants  were  gone  to  bed,  I  went  into 
his  room,  and  told  him  that  he  had  better  make 
up  his  mind  to  see  the  Duke  next  morning,  and  de- 
sired him  to  be  in  my  room  when  the  Duke  came 
in,  as  the  Duke  would  then  not  fear  his  being  seen; 
that  my  own  maid  would  watch  the  Duke's  coming, 
and  would  announce  him.  With  great  difficulty 
he  consented,  observing  that  as  his  life  was  in  my 
hands  I  might  use  it  as  I  pleased. 

Chansenets  then  came  into  my  room,  and  about 
ten  minutes  afterwards  the  Duke  arrived.  He 
started  at  seeing  Chansenets,  to  whom  he  bowed, 
and  desired  him  to  sit  down.  Poor  Chansenets 
trembled  so  much  that  he  could  hardly  stand. 
The  Duke  perceived  this,  and  turned  to  me,  and 
talked  of  my  health.  I  was  making  tea,  and  when 
T  had  given  the  Duke  his  dish,  he  turned  to  Chan- 
senets and  said,  "  CcJa  ne  laut  ricn  pour  vous. 
You  have  been  confined  long  and  seem  ill  and 
weak;  a  bouillon  would  be  better."     Chansenets 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      121 

then  said,  "  Monseigneur,  you  are  all  goodness. 
I  have  appeared  very  ungrateful  to  you :  I  wish 
to  explain  to  your  Highness  why." 

The  Duke  replied  very  gravely,  "  Monsieur  de 
Chansenets,  no  explanations.  We  will  neither  talk 
of  the  past,  nor  on  any  other  subject;  but  the  sit- 
uation of  this  good  person  who  is  trying  to  save 
your  life  at  the  expense  of  her  own.  She  is  ill, 
and  I  fear  both  you  and  she  are  in  a  scrape.  I 
would  be  of  use  to  you  on  her  account  If  I  could, 
but  I  fear  that  it  is  impossible.  You  and  I  must 
forget  that  we  ever  met  before,  as  we  never  can 
again  be  in  the  same  room;  and  I  never  wish  to 
hear  your  name  pronounced  in  my  presence.  My 
opinion  of  you  has  been  fixed  for  some  time.  I 
am  sorry  that  you  cannot  get  away,  as  I  shall  not 
be  at  peace  till  I  see  you  out  of  her  house."  He 
then  talked  on  indifferent  subjects-^ no  politics  of 
any  kind.  At  last  he  looked  at  his  watch,  and 
went  away. 

I  did  not  see  him  the  next  day,  but  I  heard 
from  him.  In  short,  I  kept  Chansenets  in  my 
house,  without  any  of  my  servants  or  my  Jacobin 
cook  knowing   it,   till   the   barriers   were   opened. 


122      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

The  moment  that  was  the  case  I  took  him  to  Meu- 
don,  which  was  a  bad  place  for  him,  as  he  was 
also  governor  of  the  castle  of  Meudon,  and  well 
known  to  all  the  people  about  there.  But  my 
house  stood  quite  alone,  and  except  an  old  lady  and 
gentleman,  who  were  my  only  near  neighbours, 
and  who  were  staunch  royalists,  nobody  but  my 
maid  knew  that  he  was  at  Meudon,  though  the 
searches  for  him  were  still  being  continued  in  Paris, 
till  somebody  said  that  they  saw  him  lying  amongst 
the  dead  on  the  loth  of  August.  This  I  fancy 
cooled  their  further  searching. 

I  had  more  uneasiness,  for  I  heard  from  the 
Duke  that  visits  were  going  to  be  made  at  Meudon. 
At  this  time  he  sent  me  one  of  his  old  valets-de- 
chambre,  who  was  a  royalist,  to  deliver  me  a  let- 
ter from  him,  telling  me  that  the  mail-cart  which 
stopped  at  St.  Denis,  would,  for  fifty  louis,  take 
Chansenets  to  Boulogne,  from  whence  he  might 
soon  get  to  England.  The  Duke  also  sent  me  a 
note  for  the  master  of  the  inn  at  St.  Denis,  called 
the  Pavilion  Royal.  I  did  not  tell  Chansenets 
whence  this  information  came,  for  he  would  have 
been  alarmed,  and  would  not  have  gone;    but  I 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      123 

assured  him  that  Meudon  was  dangerous,  and  that 
I  could  now  get  him  to  Boulogne. 

We  accordingly  went  in  a  cabriolet,  my  old  roy- 
alist neighbour  and  myself,  to  St.  Denis,  at  three 
o'clock  In  the  morning.  The  mail-cart  came  in  an 
hour  afterwards.  We  settled  with  the  man,  giv- 
ing him  his  fifty  louls,  and  I  saw  poor  Chansenets, 
In  a  deplorable  condition  and  much  disguised,  set 
off.  There  were  other  emigrants  In  the  cart  also. 
It  was  In  January,  and  quite  dark. 

Some  years  afterwards  I  heard  that  Chansenets 
got  safely  to  England,  even  before,  I  believe,  the 
unfortunate  King's  death.  After  Chansenets'  de- 
parture everything  got  worse  and  worse,  and  on 
the  2ist  of  January  the  Parisians  murdered  their 
innocent  King. 


CHAPTER  V 


CHAPTER  V 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Republicans  began 
to  talk  of  bringing  the  unfortunate  King  to  trial; 
but  the  idea  seemed  so  monstrous  and  infamous, 
that  people  could  never  imagine  it  possible  they 
would  dare  to  attempt  such  an  act.  However, 
everybody  knows  that  that  horrid  crime  was  com- 
mitted before  the  face  of  all  France,  and  that  the 
monsters  carried  their  audacity  and  vengeance  to 
the  last  extremity  by  bringing  the  most  virtuous 
and  best  of  kings  to  the  scaffold,  like  a  common 
criminal. 

I  must  here  mention  my  unfortunate  friend  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  over  whose  conduct  from  that 
period  I  could  wish  to  throw  a  veil,  for  nothing 
earthly  can  excuse  it;  the  more  so  as  he  had 
pledged  himself  to  me  in  the  most  solemn  manner 
that  nothing  should  induce  him  to  vote,  unless  it 
should  be  for  the  King's  deliverance 

127 


128      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Some  days  before  the  final  decision  as  to  the 
King's  fate,  the  Due  de  BIron  called  on  me  In  the 
morning,  and  said  that  he  was  come  to  have  his 
fortune  told.  I  used  often  to  fool  and  play  with 
the  cards,  and  pretended  to  tell  fortunes.  He  was 
extremely  superstitious,  and  really  thought  that 
I  had  told  him  some  truths  before  he  went  to  the 
army.  I  assured  him  that  "  I  wished  both  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  and  he  had  believed  more  firmly 
the  things  I  told  them;  for  then  the  King  would 
still  have  retained  his  crown,  and  they  would  have 
been  surrounded  with  pleasure  and  comforts,  in- 
stead of  lurking  about  without  daring  to  have  a 
house  or  a  carriage  to  cover  their  heads.  I  told 
him  moreover  that  the  King's  trial  was  the  most 
abominable,  cruel  event  ever  heard  of,  and  that 
I  wondered  some  brave  Chevalier  Francals  did 
not  go  and  set  fire  to  the  house  in  which  the  Con- 
vention sat,  and  burn  the  monsters  who  were  In  it, 
and  try  to  deliver  the  King  and  Queen  from  the 
Temple.  He  told  me  that  he  felt  unhappy  at  the 
King's  trial,  but  that  the  worst  which  could  happen 
to  him  would  be  seclusion  till  things  were  settled; 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      129 

that  certainly  some  would  vote  for  his  death;  but 
what  gave  him  great  comfort  was,  to  be  sure  that 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  would  not  vote,  as  he  had 
told  him  so. 

I  had  never  then  mentioned  this  subject  to  the 
Duke,  therefore  I  told  the  Due  de  Biron  that  I 
wished  the  Duke  of  Orleans  would  vote  for  the 
King's  deliverance.  He  assured  me  that  he  never 
would  do  that;  that  we  must  content  ourselves  by 
his  not  voting  at  all;  as  he  feared,  that  if  the  King 
was  sent  out  of  France,  he  would  engage  the 
Powers  to  invade  France,  and  that  the  Duke  and 
all  his  friends  would  then  be  lost. 

I  assured  him  that  I  would  sooner  see  even  such 
an  event,  than  that  the  Duke  of  Orleans  should  dis- 
grace himself  by  voting  for  the  seclusion  of  the 
King,  little  then  imagining  what  would  happen. 
The  Due  de  Biron  said  that  he  should  like  to  meet 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  the  next  day  at  my  house,  as 
when  he  saw  him  at  Madame  de  Buffon's  he  was 
always  surrounded,  and  as  he  was  to  come  in  the 
course  of  the  day,  I  appointed  that  it  should  be  at 
two  o'clock. 


130      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

It  was  on  a  Thursday,  the  17th  of  January, 
1793,  that  they  both  came.  I  had  seen  little  of 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  for  some  time  before.  On 
my  asking  him  what  he  now  thought  of  the  wicked 
trial  which  was  going  on,  and  saying  "  that  I 
hoped  he  did  not  go  near  such  vile  miscreants?  " 
He  replied  that  "  he  was  obliged  to  go,  as  he  was 
a  deputy."  I  said,  "  How  can  you  sit  and  see  your 
King  and  cousin  brought  before  a  set  of  black- 
guards, and  that  they  should  dare  to  insult  him  by 
asking  him  questions?  "  adding  that  "  I  wished  I 
had  been  at  the  Convention;  for  I  should  have 
pulled  off  both  my  shoes,  and  have  thrown  them 
at  the  head  of  the  President  and  of  Santerre,  for 
daring  to  insult  their  King  and  master." 

I  was  very  warm  on  the  subject.  The  Duke  of 
Orleans  seemed  out  of  humor.  The  Due  de  Biron 
then  asked  him  some  questions  about  the  trial.  I 
could  not  help  saying,  "  I  hope,  Monselgneur,  that 
you  will  vote  for  the  King's  deliverance?  "  "  Cer- 
tainly," he  answered,  "  and  for  my  own  death." 

I  saw  that  he  was  angry,  and  the  Due  de  Biron 
said,  "  The  Duke  will  not  vote.  The  King  has 
used  him  very  ill  all  his  life;   but  he  Is  his  cousin, 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      131 

therefore  he  will  feign  illness  and  stay  at  home 
on  Saturday,  the  day  of  the  Appel  Nominal,  which 
is  to  decide  on  the  King's  fate." 

I  said,  "  Then,  Monseigneur,  I  am  sure  you  will 
not  go  to  the  Convention  on  Saturday.  Pray 
don't." 

He  said  that  he  certainly  would  not  go;  that 
he  never  had  intended  to  go;  and  he  gave  me  his 
sacred  word  of  honour  that  he  would  not  go;  that 
"  though  he  thought  the  King  had  been  guilty  by 
forfeiting  his  word  to  the  nation,  yet  nothing 
should  induce  him,  being  his  relation,  to  vote 
against  him."  This  I  thought  a  poor  consolation, 
but  I  could  do  no  more,  and  the  two  dukes  left  me. 

I  saw  nobody  on  the  Friday.  Ever}'  one  seemed 
anxious  for  the  termination  of  this  abominable 
trial,  though  few  expected  that  it  would  end  as  it 
did.  How  could  any  creature,  indeed,  dare  im- 
agine that  such  a  crime  was  hanging  over  France? 

On  the  Saturday  I  received  a  note  from  the  Due 
de  Biron  to  beg  me  to  come  and  pass  the  evening 
with  him  and  Madame  Laurent  and  Dumouriez, 
at  the  Hotel  St.  Marc,  Rue  St.  Marc,  near  the  Rue 
de  Richelieu;    that  there  I  should  hear  the  news, 


132      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

and  that  he  had  great  hopes  things  would  be 
softened.  At  this  time  the  Due  de  Biron  had  no 
house  or  home;  he  had  been  denounced  to  the 
army  by  one  of  the  revolutionary  generals  called 
Rossignol,  who  was  a  murderer  of  the  2nd  of  Sep- 
tember. The  Due  de  Biron,  who  was  then  called 
General  Biron,  had  come  to  Paris  at  this  period 
to  exculpate  himself  with  the  War  Minister,  and 
he  lodged  during  the  short  time  he  was  there  at 
this  hotel  garni. 

I  went  there  at  about  half-past  seven  o'clock, 
and  found  the  Due  de  Biron  and  the  party  there 
assembled  and  very  dismal.  He  had  every  half- 
hour  a  list  sent  him  of  the  votes,  and  we  all  saw 
with  agony  that  many  had  voted  for  the  King's 
death.  He  also  heard  that,  at  eight  o'clock,  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  had  entered  the  Convention, 
which  surprised  us  all.  I  feared  much  that  he 
was  going  to  vote  for  the  seclusion,  for  I  never 
thought  of  worse.  However,  every  list  was  more 
and  more  alarming,  till  at  about  ten  o'clock  the 
sad  and  fatal  list  arrived  with  the  King's  condem- 
nation, and  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans'  dishonour. 

I  never  felt  such  horror  for  anybody  in  my  life 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      133 

as  I  did  at  that  moment  at  the  Duke's  conduct. 
We  were  all  In  deep  affliction  and  tears;  even  poor 
Biron,  who,  alas !  was  a  republican,  was  almost  in 
a  fit.  A  young  man,  who  was  the  Duke's  aide-de- 
camp, tore  off  his  coat  and  flung  it  into  the  fire,  say- 
ing that  he  should  blush  ever  to  wear  It  again.  His 
name  was  Rutaux,  and  he  was  a  native  of  Nancy. 
He  was  a  noble  and  a  very  good  young  man,  who 
had  not  emigrated  out  of  affection  for  poor  Biron, 
though  his  heart  was  always  with  the  Princes. ^^ 
When  my  carriage  came,  I  went  home ;  but  every 
place  now  seemed  dreary  and  bloody  to  me.  My 
servants  all  looked  horror-struck.  I  did  not  dare 
sleep  In  my  room  alone.  I  desired  my  maid  to 
watch  with  me  all  night,  and  we  kept  up  a  great 
light  and  prayed.  I  could  not  sleep.  The  image 
of  the  innocent  King  was  constantly  before  me.  I 
don't  think  that  it  was  possible  to  have  felt  even  a 
family  calamity  more  than  I  did  the  King's  death. 
Till  that  moment  I  had  always  flattered  myself  that 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  misled,  and  saw  things  In 
a  wrong  light;  now,  however,  all  that  illusion  was 
over.  I  even  threw  the  things  he  had  given  me 
which  I  had  in  my  pockets  and  in  my  room  out  of 


134      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

it,  not  daring  to  stay  near  anything  that  had  been 
his. 

Such  at  that  moment  was  the  vexation  that  I 
felt  about  a  person  for  whom  some  time  before 
I  would  have  given  my  life.  Nobody  can  have  an 
idea  of  my  sufferings;  but,  indeed,  every  honest 
person  in  Paris  felt,  I  believe,  as  much  as  I  did. 

The  next  day,  Sunday,  I  heard  that  the  fish- 
women  were  to  go  in  a  body  to  the  Convention, 
or  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  to  insist  on  the  King's 
deliverance,  as  he  was  to  be  executed  on  the  Mon- 
day. However,  the  monsters  caused  a  proclama- 
tion to  be  read  In  the  streets,  declaring  that  If  any 
women  were  found  abroad  on  the  Monday  they 
would  be  outlawed,  and  might  be  fired  on. 

I  now  determined  not  to  remain  in  Paris  another 
hour,  and  getting  a  passport  from  my  Section,  I 
went  with  my  own  maid  to  my  house  at  Meudon, 
that  I  might  not  breathe  the  same  air  as  the  King's 
murderers. 

On  the  2 1  St,  Monday  morning,  I  hoped  every 
Instant  to  hear  that  the  Parisians  had  risen,  and 
delivered  the  King.  Just  at  ten  o'clock  I  heard  a 
cannon  go  off.     This  I  hoped  was  some  tumult  in 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      135 

the  King's  favour;  but,  alas!  that  was  the  mo- 
ment when  his  august  head  fell! 

Meudon  is  on  the  mountain,  and  with  a  glass  I 
could  have  seen  the  Place  Louis  Quinze,  where 
this  horrible  murder  was  committed.  I  went  out 
on  the  mountain  to  try  and  meet  with  somebody 
who  had  come  from  Paris,  and  who  could  tell  me 
the  King's  fate.  At  last,  about  twelve  o'clock  I 
observed  a  man  coming  along  the  road,  with  a 
handkerchief  in  his  hand  steeped  in  blood.  I  knew 
the  man :  he  had  been  one  of  the  King's  workmen, 
belonging  to  the  Palace  of  Meudon,  and  much  at- 
tached to  his  royal  master.  He  related  to  me  the 
dreadful  event.  He  had  gone,  he  said,  to  Paris, 
in  hopes  of  being  of  use,  had  any  attempt  been 
made  to  rescue  the  King.  He  was  under  the  scaf- 
fold, and  pulled  the  handkerchief  off  his  neck,  dip- 
ping it  in  the  King's  blood  as  "  a  relic  of  St.  Louis 
the  Sixteenth."  These  were  the  man's  own  words. 
He  gave  me  a  small  bit  of  it,  and  died  about  two 
months  afterwards  of  grief,  with  the  bloody  hand- 
kerchief on  his  heart.  Several  of  the  game-keepers 
of  the  park  of  Meudon,  who  used  to  go  a-shooting 
with  the  King,  also  died  of  grief. 


136       DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

The  King  was  shooting  at  Meudon  on  the  5th 
October,  when  the  mob  went  to  force  him  to  go  to 
Paris.  This  was  the  last  amusement  which  his 
Majesty  took. 

The  day  of  the  King's  death  was  the  most 
dreary  day  I  ever  saw.  The  clouds  even  seemed 
to  mourn.  Nobody  dared  appear,  or  at  least  look 
at  each  other.  The  cruel  Jacobins  themselves 
seemed  to  fear  each  other's  reproach.  I  was  shut 
up  all  day.  I  heard  nothing  from  Paris,  nor  did 
I  wish  to  hear.  I  dreaded  the  idea  of  ever  going 
there  again. 

From  that  period  everything  bespoke  terror. 
Robespierre  became  all  powerful.  People  did  not 
dare  to  speak  above  their  breath.  Two  people, 
the  most  intimate,  would  not  have  dared  to  stop 
and  speak.  In  short,  even  in  your  own  rooms  you 
felt  frightened.  If  you  laughed,  you  were  accused 
of  joy  at  some  bad  news  the  republic  had  had;  if 
you  cried,  they  said  that  you  regretted  their  success. 
In  short,  they  were  sending  soldiers  every  hour  to 
search  houses  for  papers  of  conspiracies.  These 
soldiers  generally   robbed  people,   or  made  them 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      137 

give  them  money,  threatening  them  in  case  of  re- 
fusal to  denounce  them. 

I  wished  to  remain  quiet  at  Meudon,  but  was 
soon  found  out,  and  never  having  been  in  favour 
with  the  repubhcans,  they  annoyed  me  in  every  way 
possible.  They  denounced  me  at  the  Jacobin  club 
at  Sevres;  said  that  I  had  hid  Chansenets,  and 
other  emigrants;  that  I  had  flour  hid  in  my  house; 
and  that  I  had  entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  get  the 
Queen  out  of  the  Temple.  In  short,  I  hardly 
ever  slept  a  night  undisturbed  by  visits  from  the 
municipalities,  not  of  Meudon,  for  they  were  kind 
to  me,  but  of  Sevres  and  of  Versailles,  which  were 
horrid.  About  six  weeks  after  the  King's  death  I 
was  taken  very  ill,  and  was  obliged  to  send  to  Paris 
for  a  physician.  He  was  a  Dr.  Leroy,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  Court  physicians. 

The  doctor  had  mentioned  in  Paris  my  being 
extremely  ill;  in  consequence  of  which  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  sent  an  old  and  faithful  valet-de-cham- 
bre  of  his  (who  was  a  good  royalist),  to  see  mc, 
with  a  very  affectionate  letter  regretting  that  "  he 
did  not  dare  to  come  to  me,  but  entreating  me  to 


138      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

see  him  when  I  was  well,  saying  that  all  the  world 
had  given  him  up,  and  that  he  thought  his  unhappy 
situation  would  have  made  me  forgive  him,  if  I 
thought  he  had  done  wrong."  In  short,  the  Duke 
sent  every  day  from  Paris  to  Meudon  to  inquire 
after  my  health,  and  was  kind  and  attentive  to  me. 
As  at  that  moment  I  wished  to  get  a  passport  to 
return  to  England,  and  thought  that  nobody  could 
get  me  one  but  him,  I  fixed  a  day  to  go  to  him  at 
the  Palais  Royal,  intending  to  return  to  the  country 
at  night.  Accordingly  I  went,  and  found  the 
Duke's  antechamber  full  of  officers  and  generals; 
in  short  quite  a  levee.  Romain,  the  Duke's  good 
old  valet-de-chambre,  took  me  up  to  what  was 
called  les  petits  appartements.  I  was  very  much 
affected  and  agitated  at  the  idea  of  seeing  the  Duke, 
as  I  had  not  seen  him  since  he  gave  that  horrid 
vote.  Romain  and  I  wept  much,  both  of  us,  at  the 
idea  of  the  Duke's  present  situation.  The  poor 
old  man  loved  the  Duke  like  his  own  child,  and 
had  been  in  his  service  since  the  day  the  Duke  was 
born  at  St.  Cloud.  He  little  expected  ever  to  see 
him  what  he  then  was. 

The  Duke  came  up  when  I  had  been  there  about 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      139 

an  hour  waiting.  He  was  dressed  in  deep  mourn- 
ing, looked  embarrassed  and  very  grave.  I  was 
nearly  fainting,  and  he  made  me  sit  down,  and  him- 
self gave  me  a  glass  of  water.  "  You  look  ill," 
he  said,  "  but  I  hope  you  are  quite  recovered  from 
your  cold?  "  I  told  him  that  his  black  coat  made 
me  remember  terrible  events,  and  that  I  supposed 
he  was,  as  I  was,  in  mourning  for  the  King.  On 
this  he  forced  a  smile;  and  said,  "  Oh,  no;  I  am 
in  mourning  for  my  father-in-law,  the  Due  de  Pen- 
thievre." 

"  I  suppose,"  I  said,  "  that  the  King's  death  has 
hastened  his;  or  perhaps  the  manner  of  his  cruel 
trial,  and  your  having  voted  for  death?"  Here 
I  burst  out  into  tears,  and  said,  "  I  dare  say  that  he 
died  broken-hearted,  and  so  shall  I ;  but  you,  Mon- 
seigneur,  will  die,  like  the  poor  King,  on  the  scaf- 
fold." 

"  Good  God!  "  said  he,  "  what  a  situation  you 
are  in !  I  am  sure  I  should  not  have  made  you 
come  here,  had  I  had  an  idea  of  all  this.  The 
King  has  been  tried,  and  he  is  no  more.  I  could 
not  prevent  his  death."  I  then  replied,  "  But  you 
promised  that  you  would  not  vote." 


140      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

On  this  he  got  up,  observing,  "  This  is  an  un- 
pleasant subject.  You  cannot  —  must  not  judge 
for  me.  I  know  my  own  situation.  I  could  not 
avoid  doing  what  I  have  done.  I  am  perhaps 
more  to  be  pitied  than  you  can  form  an  idea  of. 
I  am  more  a  slave  of  faction  than  anybody  in 
France;  but  from  this  instant  let  us  drop  the  sub- 
ject. Things  are  at  their  worst.  I  wish  you  were 
safe  in  England,  but  how  to  get  you  out  of  France 
is  what  I  cannot  contrive.  If  money  can  procure 
you  a  passport  I  will  give  five  hundred  pounds. 
This  Is  my  last  resource  for  you.  The  rulers  like 
money,  and  I  have  hopes  for  you.  I  will  do  what 
I  can  with  some  of  the  leaders,  but  Robespierre,  to 
whom  I  never  speak,  is  all  powerful." 

The  Duke  wished  me  to  make  breakfast,  and  I 
drank  some  tea,  but  felt  so  very  uncomfortable  that 
I  could  say  nothing  to  him,  but  about  the  horrors 
of  the  Revolution,  a  subject  which  did  not  seem  to 
please  him.  He  asked  me  if  "  I  was  going  back  to 
the  country  to  dinner?"  I  told  him  that  I  was 
going  to  dine  at  my  own  house,  and  to  order  fires 
to  be  lighted  for  some  days;  that  I  should  not  stay 
at  Meudon,  because  the  Sections  of  Versailles  and 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      141 

Sevres  used  me  very  ill.  He  said  that  if  that  was 
the  case,  I  had  better  come  to  Paris,  though  he 
feared  that  the  Section  in  which  I  lived  was  also 
very  bad,  and  would  plague  me.  He  told  me  that 
people  said  I  had  been  very  imprudent  during  the 
Revolution;  and  he  entreated  me  not  to  talk  or 
tell  people  what  I  thought,  or  to  say  that  I  was  in 
mourning  for  the  King;  adding,  "  If  you  like  to 
wear  mourning  for  him,  in  God's  name  wear  it,  but 
say  that  it  is  for  some  of  your  relations,  or  you  will 
get  into  a  scrape,  and  I  should  never  be  able  to  get 
you  out  of  it.  I  wish  that  you  could  have  re- 
mained in  the  country,  till  you  could  obtain  a  pass- 
port for  England.  I  wish  that  /  had  never  left  it, 
but  now  I  can  never  see  it  again." 

I  then  took  leave  of  the  Duke,  and  went  to  my 
house  in  the  Fauxbourg  St.  Honore,  telling  them 
that  I  should  return  to  Paris  on  the  Sunday  fol- 
lowing, which  I  did. 

I  passed  over  the  Place  Louis  Quinze  on  my 
road  home  to  Meudon,  and  felt  a  shivering  all 
over  when  I  saw  the  spot  where  the  unfortunate 
King's  head  had  fallen.  Paris  was  then  Indeed 
dreary;   no  carriages  were  to  be  seen  in  the  streets 


142      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

but  mine  and  two  or  three  more.  Everybody 
seemed  afraid.  No  visits  were  paid  or  received. 
The  playhouses  were  filled  with  none  but  Jacobins 
and  the  lowest  set  of  common  women.  The  depu- 
ties were  in  all  the  best  boxes,  with  infamous 
women  in  red  caps  and  dressed  as  figures  of  Lib- 
erty. In  short,  Paris  was  a  scene  of  filth  and  riot, 
and  the  honest,  sober  part  of  the  inhabitants  were 
afraid  of  being  seen  or  even  dressed  with  common 
decency. 

When  I  returned  to  Meudon,  I  found  a  note 
from  Madame  la  Comtesse  de  Perigord,  wife  to 
Archambeau  de  Perigord,  to  say  that  she  should 
take  it  as  a  great  favor  if  I  would  see  her;  that 
she  was  much  harassed;  and  that  she  had  no 
hopes  but  in  me,  in  whom  she  had  the  greatest  con- 
fidence. I  have  her  letter  now  before  me.  I 
wrote  to  her  and  appointed  her  to  come  to  me  on 
the  Monday  following  at  my  house  in  Paris. 
When  I  saw  her,  she  told  me  that  she  was  the  most 
miserable  woman  on  earth;  that  her  Section  had 
found  out  that  her  husband  had  been  hid  in  Paris; 
and  that  she  did  not  know  what  would  become  of 
her  and  her  children.     She  thought  that  I  might  be 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      143 

able  to  get  her,  through  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  the 
means  of  making  her  escape.  She  said  that  she 
wished  to  go  to  England;  and  that  her  aunt, 
Madame  de  Sennason,^^  and  her  uncle,  the  vener- 
able and  virtuous  Malesherbes,  were  miserable 
about  her  situation.  She  declared  that  she  was  ter- 
ror-stricken;  that  she  must  and  would  fly,  or  de- 
stroy herself,  for  she  could  exist  no  longer.  She 
said  that  being  so  very  rich,  they  certainly  would 
murder  her;  that  she  had  jewels  and  §ome  ready 
money,  and  that  she  would  try  to  get  to  England, 
where  her  husband  and  eldest  son  then  were.  She 
went  down  on  her  knees  to  me,  begging  me  to  see 
and  entreat  the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  assist  her;  for 
she  thought  him  all-powerful.  I  informed  her 
what  he  had  told  me  about  my  passport.  She  then 
was  in  despair;  rolled  herself  on  my  carpet,  and 
I  really  feared  that  she  had  lost  her  senses. 

She  stayed  with  me  some  time;  and  when  it  was 
dark  I,  with  my  own  maid,  conducted  her  to  her 
aunt  Madame  de  Sennason's  house  at  the  Porte  St. 
Honore,  which  was  not  far  from  me;  and  there  I 
had  the  happiness  of  sitting  two  hours  with  the 
poor  King's  friend  Monsieur  de  Malesherbes,  and 


144      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

of  hearing  from  himself  an  account  of  his  last  In- 
terview with  the  unfortunate  Monarch.  I  was 
even  blessed  by  Monsieur  de  Malesherbes,  and  he 
pressed  me  to  his  breast,  praying  God  to  bless  me, 
and  protect  me!  Poor  man,  I  never  saw  him 
again !  He  was  too  good  to  be  spared  long  by 
Robespierre,  though  he  was  long  In  prison. 

I  now  sent  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans  requesting 
him  to  come  to  me  the  next  day  about  my  passport. 
He  replied  to  me  by  telling  me  that  "  I  must  not 
now  think  of  It;  that  he  had  done  everything  in 
his  power,  but  had  been  desired  by  a  person  in 
power  to  advise  me  not  to  ask  for  it,  or  talk  of 
England  at  that  moment,  but  to  bear  my  misfor- 
tunes like  other  people,  and  to  keep  very  quiet." 
The  Duke  desired  me  to  give  Madame  de  Perigord 
the  same  advice;  but  she  would  not  take  It,  and  In- 
deed she  lost  herself  by  not  following  that  advice. 
The  Countess  de  Jarnac  called  on  me  that  same 
afternoon,  and  told  me  that  she  came  from  Ma- 
dame dc  Perigord,  who  was  at  her  house,  which 
was  near  mine,  quite  distracted,  and  determined  to 
get  out  of  Paris  at  all  events,  and  that  she  would 
see  me,  but  Madame  de  Jarnac  had  prevented  her 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      145 

coming,  for  fear  that  she  should  expose  herself  to 
my  servants.  I  returned  with  her  to  her  house, 
and  there  we  found  Madame  de  Perigord,  who  was 
determined  not  to  sleep  in  Paris  that  night,  even  if 
she  slept  in  the  fields. 

I  forgot  to  mention  that  a  domiciliary  visit  was 
to  be  made  that  night,  which  had  frightened  her. 
She  entreated  me  to  take  her  and  her  children,  a 
boy  and  a  girl  (now  Madame  Juste  de  Noailles), 
to  my  house  at  Meudon,  only  for  that  night.  I 
h:d  an  old  woman  there  who  kept  my  house  while 
I  was  away,  and  on  whom  I  could  depend.  Order- 
ing my  carriage,  therefore,  directly,  I,  Madame  de 
Perigord,  and  the  children  went  to  Meudon,  where 
I  left  her  as  comfortable  as  was  possible  at  such  a 
moment.  As  the  people  of  my  Section  knew  that 
I  was  in  Paris,  they  might  have  suspected  something 
had  I  gone  away  and  not  slept  in  my  own  house, 
the  more  so  as  there  was  to  be  a  domiciliary  visit. 
During  that  visit  I  was  not  all  frightened.  I  had 
then  got  used  to  it,  and  had  nobody  hid  in  my  bed; 
therefore  I  was  not  very  civil  to  the  intruders.  I 
had  promised  Madame  de  Perigord  to  go  to  her 
the  next  day.      Madame  dc  Jarnac  told  mc,  that  if 


146      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Madame  de  Perigord  would  come  back  to  Paris,  a 
person  whom  she  knew  was  going  to  Calais,  and 
would  manage,  with  a  false  passport,  to  get  her 
there.  I  did  not  approve  of  this  scheme;  but  I 
brought  Madame  de  Perigord  and  her  children 
back  to  Paris,  and  kept  her  and  them  in  my  house 
for  ten  days  or  more. 

This  was,  I  think,  In  March,  near  the  time  when 
Dumouriez  went  out  of  France,  accompanied  by 
the  Duke  de  Chartres,  son  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 
The  Duke  de  Chartres,  on  his  emigration,  wrote 
his  father  a  most  harsh  letter,  which  his  father 
never  forgave  till  the  day  of  his  death.  His  son 
upbraided  him  much  with  the  King's  death;  I  per- 
fectly remember  the  letter,  for  I  had  It  two  days  in 
my  possession.  The  Duke  burnt  It  In  my  room, 
the  last  time  In  his  life  that  he  came  to  my  house. 
On  this  occasion  he  came  accompanied  by  two 
gensd'armes  in  his  coach.  I  was  much  shocked  and 
surprised  to  see  him  in  such  a  situation,  but  he 
laughed,  saying  that  it  was  only  because  his  son, 
the  Duke  de  Chartres,  had  gone  off  with  Du- 
mouriez, and  that  he  owed  that  obligation  to  him. 
The  guards  stayed  In  my  antechamber.     The  Duke 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      147 

asked  me  If  I  would  give  him  a  breakfast  on  the 
Sunday,  when  he  hoped  to  come  with  less  suite.  I 
said  that  I  would.  He  observed  that  as  nothing 
now  was  certain,  and  that  as  his  fate  was  more 
uncertain  than  that  of  anybody  else,  he  did  not 
feel  at  ease  about  the  money  I  possessed,  which  I 
had  placed  on  his  estates.  He  thought.  In  case  of 
his  death,  he  could  make  arrangement  for  me  which 
would  secure  the  payment  of  my  annuities  In  Eng- 
land; that  he  would  arrange  all  the  business  and 
give  me  effects,  which  would  be  money  to  me  when 
I  could  get  to  England.  He  assured  me  that  I 
should  be  far  from  being  a  loser,  and  that  If  they 
paid  his  creditors  after  his  death  so  much  the  bet- 
ter, for  I  should  then  be  so  much  the  richer.  I 
own  that  It  gave  me  pain  to  hear  him  talk  so,  as, 
Indeed,  I  expected  his  fall  every  day. 

He  then  went  away.  Madame  de  Perlgord  was 
in  my  house  all  this  time;  but  she  slept  in  my  own 
maid's  room  up-stairs.  She  and  I  were  sitting  by 
the  fire,  talking  about  what  had  just  passed,  when 
my  maid  bounced  into  the  room  and  said,  "  Ma- 
dame, line  visite  des  gardes!  "  Madame  de  Perl- 
gord had  only  time  to  get  Into  a  closet,  where  we 


148      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

had  before  taken  the  shelves  out  for  that  purpose, 
when  forty  men  came  Into  my  room.  They  stated 
that  they  came  to  Inspect  all  my  papers;  and  that 
I  must  give  them  my  keys.  It  was  twelve  o'clock 
at  night.  I  was  frightened  lest  my  friend  should 
cough;  but  knew  that  the  men  could  not  find  the 
closet,  as  it  was  between  the  two  doors,  and  covered 
with  paper,  so  that  there  was  no  keyhole,  and  the 
person  who  was  in  it  could  fasten  the  door  on  the 
inside. 

I  assisted  them  to  search  my  papers;  and  those 
which  were  English  they  packed  up.  At  last  they 
found  a  sealed  letter,  directed  to  Charles  Fox. 
Sir  Godfrey  Webster,  who  was  then  at  Naples,  had 
sent  it  to  me  by  a  French  courier  who  came  to  Paris 
from  Admiral  Latouche  Frevllle,  who  had  been 
before  Naples  to  make  a  manifesto  in  the  name  of 
the  French  nation.  I  knew  very  little  of  Sir  God- 
frey Webster;  but  he  thought  that  I  could  get  this 
letter  sent  to  England.  The  people  who  made  the 
visit  to  my  house  were  Ignorant  men,  who  had 
heard  of  Mr.  Pitt  and  Mr.  Fox,  but  did  not  know 
anything  of  their  politics.     They  thought  that  I 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      149 

should  be  sent  the  next  day  to  the  guillotine;  and 
they  were  enchanted  at  the  discovery  they  had 
made.  They  told  me  that  they  had  long  suspected 
me,  but  that  now  they  had  found  out  that  I  was  in 
correspondence  with  the  enemies  of  the  Republic, 
and  that  I  should  pay  dearly  for  it.  I  assured 
them  that  Mr.  Fox  was  their  friend;  that  he  was 
in  correspondence  with  the  Comite  de  Surveillance, 
which  was  then  their  great  tribunal.  They  stated 
that  they  had  orders  to  put  me  under  arrest  that 
night;  and  they  put  their  echarpes  over  their 
shoulders,  and  arrested  me  in  the  name  of  the  Re- 
publique  Francaise.  They  took  all  the  papers  they 
pleased,  and  hardly  allowed  me  time  to  put  a 
shawl  over  my  shoulders,  though  it  was  very  cold; 
and  put  their  seals  on  my  cabinets. 

It  may  easily  be  conceived  what  poor  Madame 
de  Perigord  must  have  suffered  during  this  night. 
She  thought  that  they  would  have  put  the  seals  on 
my  room-doors;  and,  though  my  maid  was  to  re- 
main in  my  house,  yet  it  was  death  to  break  a  seal 
put  on  by  them.  It  happened,  however,  that  they 
W'ere  so  pleased  at  getting  me  out  of  my  own  house, 


150       DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

and  leading  me,  as  they  thought,  to  the  scaffold, 
that  they  left  my  house  without  seals.  On  the 
next  day  I  heard,  with  pleasure,  that  Madame  de 
Perigord  got  safely  that  night  to  Madame  de 
Jarnac's. 


CHAPTER  VI 


CHAPTER  VI 

It  was  two  o'clock  when  we  entered  the  guard- 
room where  they  took  me.  The  soldiers  were  lying 
asleep  about  the  room;  some  drunk,  others  drink- 
ing, smoking,  and  swearing.  There  were  some 
other  miserable  prisoners  like  myself,  none  of 
whom  I  knew ;  nor  was  there  any  other  woman  in 
the  place.  They  gave  me  a  seat  on  a  bench  near 
the  fire,  and  offered  me  wine,  saying,  that  I  must 
not  be  proud;  that  there  were  now  no  more  dukes 
or  princes;  that  they  were  all  good  citizens;  and 
that  If  I  had  not  been  a  conspirator  I  should  have 
been  a  good  and  happy  citoyenne;  but  that  I  was 
now  going  to  dance  the  Carmagnole  In  the  Place 
Louis  Quinzc.  I  assured  them  that  I  was  in  no 
fear  of  that;  for  if  they  had  nothing  to  accuse  me 
of  but  that  letter  to  Mr.  Fox,  I  was  sure  of  being 
acquitted.  I  told  them  that  I  wished  they  would 
break  the  seal  and  read  the  letter,  for  they  would 

153 


154      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

then  find  that  it  was  not  a  letter  to  a  foe  of  liberty, 
but  to  a  great  patriot;  and  that  they  might  break 
open  the  letter,  though  I  would  not  and  could  not, 
as  it  was  merely  sent  to  me  to  try  and  get  it  to 
England. 

I  remained  the  whole  night  in  this  miserable 
place,  without  anything  but  the  bare  walls  to  lean 
my  back,  against.  They  took  no  further  notice  of 
me  during  the  night.  About  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  my  maid  and  one  of  my  men-servants 
brought  me  a  basin  of  tea  and  some  bread,  my 
house  being  in  the  next  street  to  the  section-house. 
I  was  fatigued  to  death,  and  had  a  violent  head- 
ache from  the  constant  smell  of  wine  and  tobacco 
I  had  been  exposed  to  all  night.  The  members 
of  the  Comite  Revolutionnaire  of  my  Section,  who 
had  come  to  my  house  with  the  guards  to  arrest  me, 
were  various  tradesmen,  and  the  president  was  a 
barber,  who  had  been  a  zealous  actor  in  the 
prisons  on  the  2nd  of  September,  and  of  course 
was  a  monster.  When  they  had  conducted  me  to 
the  Corps  de  Garde,  they  went  home  to  their  beds, 
and  left  me  with  the  soldiers. 

About  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  all  re- 


Bailly,   INfayor  of   Paris 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      155 

turned  to  conduct  me  to  the  Mairie,  where  the 
state  prisoners  were  examined.  This  place  was 
close  to  the  Palais  de  Justice,  which  was  at  the 
further  end  of  what  is  called  the  Cite,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  water  from  where  I  lived.  They  had 
the  cruelty  to  make  me  walk,  in  the  middle  of  the 
soldiers,  and  the  streets  were  dirty.  When  we  got 
there  we  found  the  room  full  of  prisoners,  like  my- 
self, waiting  their  turn  to  be  examined.  I  am  sure 
that  there  were  at  least  two  hundred  —  a  great 
many  women,  and  most  of  them  of  high  rank. 
During  the  whole  time  I  was  there,  which  was 
thirty  hours,  I  was  close  to  the  poor  Duchess  de 
Grammont  and  the  Duchess  du  Chatelet.  I  be- 
lieve that  there  were  not  ten  chairs  in  the  room, 
and  the  women  were  fainting  from  fatigue.  The 
Duchess  de  Grammont  was  very  bulky,  and  her 
legs  were  terribly  swollen, 

A  young  aide-de-camp  of  the  Commander  of 
Paris,  whose  sister  used  to  wash  my  laces,  saw  me, 
and  pressed  through  the  crowd  to  give  me  a  chair. 
Seeing  Madame  de  Grammont  and  Madame  du 
Chatelet,  who  were  older  than  myself,  I  was,  of 
course,   happy  to  offer  it  to   them.     They  made 


156      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

many  compliments  about  taking  it,  and  Madame  de 
Grammont  said,  "  Pray,  madame,  tell  me  who  you 
are,  that  if  ever  we  get  out  of  this  place  we  may 
meet  again,  for  I  see  that  you  are  also  persecuted 
for  the  good  cause."  I  told  her;  and  she  was 
good  enough  to  assure  me,  that  she  was  enchanted 
to  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a  person  who  had 
been  so  staunch  to  the  cause,  and  who  had  rendered 
it  such  services.  She  knew  all  that  I  had  done  for 
Chansenets,  and  for  her  cousin,  Madame  de  Per- 
igord.  The  Abbe  de  Damas  had  often  told  her, 
she  said,  of  all  I  had  done,  and  that  she  had  long 
known  the  good  advice  I  had  given  to  an  unfor- 
tunate Prince.  She  hoped  to  God  that  the  mon- 
sters would  spare  me  long,  as  she  was  sure  that  I 
still  might  be  of  use  to  the  unfortunate.  In  short, 
from  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Friday  till 
twelve  o'clock  on  Saturday  morning,  did  I  again 
remain  on  my  legs,  except  for  about  five  minutes 
now  and  then  when  these  ladies  pulled  me  on  their 
knees,  but  I  was  so  much  afraid  of  hurting  them 
that  it  was  no  ease  to  me. 

There  was  a  hiiffct  at  the  end  of  the  room  where 
we  could  have  everything  to  eat  or  drink  we  liked, 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      157 

on  paying  for  it;  but  few  who  were  there  thought 
much  of  nourishment.  Their  situation  was  too 
dangerous,  and  they  had  very  little  hopes  of  ever 
returning  to  their  own  houses.  By  talking  in  a 
low  voice  we  could  say  anything,  for  the  room  was 
too  full  even  to  have  guards  in  it;  so  they  were 
stationed  at  the  different  doors.  I  saw  many  peo- 
ple whom  I  knew,  and  many  gentlemen  and  ladies 
of  high  rank,  but  I  was  not  so  near  them  as  I 
was  to  the  two  old  countesses.  They  both  perished 
some  time  afterwards  on  the  scaffold.  They  were 
imprisoned  at  Porte  Royale,  and  I  was  at  the 
Carmes.  Madame  de  Grammont  was  examined 
about  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  they  treated 
her  harshly,  but  let  her  return  to  her  own  house 
again  for  some  time.  They  did  the  same  with 
Madame  du  Chatelet.  At  twelve  o'clock  on  Sat- 
urday they  took  me  to  the  mayor,  I  think  his  name 
was  Chambronne.  He  went  in  the  coach  with  the 
King  when  he  was  murdered.  When  the  people 
of  my  Section  told  him  of  the  cause  of  my  arrest, 
and  showed  him  the  letter,  he  said  that  he  could 
say  nothing  to  me;  that  my  case  must  go  before 
the   Comitc   of   Surveillance,   then   sitting   at   the 


158      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Feulllants,  near  the  Convention;  and  that  mine 
was  a  grave  business. 

I  then  was  marched  again  in  the  same  manner 
back  to  the  Feuillants,  in  the  Tuileries  gardens, 
where  I  saw,  while  I  waited,  most  dreadful  scenes 
—  poor  men  and  women  coming  out  of  the  Comite 
in  tears,  papers  having  been  found  upon  them; 
every  one  whom  I  saw  was  ordered  for  imprison- 
ment, and  to  be  tried  by  the  horrid  Tribunal  Revo- 
lutionnaire.  I  really  felt  alarmed  at  my  own  sit- 
uation, as  I  had  no  idea  what  the  contents  of  Sir 
Godfrey  Webster's  letter  to  Mr.  Fox  might  be,  nor 
had  I  any  Idea  of  his  politics.  They  did  not  keep 
me  long,  however,  as  they  had  been  In  a  private 
comite  for  some  time  examining  a  prisoner. 
When  the  door  opened,  who  should  come  out,  at- 
tended by  guards,  but  the  Duke  of  Orleans!  He 
saw  me,  and  seemed  hurt.  "Psion  DIeu!"  said 
he,  "  are  you  here?     I  am  very  sorry  indeed." 

He  then  went  out,  and  one  of  my  guards  told 
me  that  the  Duke  got  Into  his  coach,  but  did  not 
go  to  prison. 

When  I  went  into  this  awful  room,  the  mem- 
bers, who  were  Vergniaud,  Guadct,  Ossclin,  and 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      159 

Chabot  the  Capuchin,  all  sat  along  a  green  table, 
and  a  chair  was  placed  facing  them.  There  were 
at  least  forty  present.  I  have  only  named  those 
I  can  remember.  The  chair  was  very  high  up 
steps.  I  felt  much  frightened  as  I  mounted  the 
steps.  They  began  by  asking  the  people  of  my 
Section  what  was  my  crime,  and  why  I  had  been 
arrested?  They  then  told  the  story  and  produced 
the  letter.  Chabot  asked  me  what  were  the  con- 
tents of  the  letter?  I  assured  him  that  I  was  igno- 
rant of  them;  at  which  Chabot  said,  "  It  is  a  con- 
spiracy. I  know  this  woman;  she  is  a  royalist. 
She  has  been  intriguing  in  England  to  make 
D'Orleans'  daughter  marry  an  English  prince. 
Send  her  to  La  Force." 

Vergniaud,  who  was  civil,  said,  "  I  don't  see 
why  this  woman  should  have  been  arrested,  be- 
cause a  letter  directed  to  Mr.  Fox  was  found  in 
her  house.  Had  it  been  directed  to  the  monster 
Pitt,  you  could  have  done  no  more.  Mr.  Fox  is 
our  friend;  he  is  the  friend  of  a  free  nation;  he 
loves  our  Revolution,  and  we  have  it  here,  under 
his  own  hand-writing;  therefore  can  we  with 
honour  break  open  and  read  a  private  letter  di- 


i6o      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

rected  to  that  great  man?  No!  It  shall  not  be; 
we  will  keep  the  letter,  and  send  It  safely  to  Mr. 
Fox." 

They  began  to  be  very  warm,  and  Chabot  In- 
sisted on  the  letter  being  opened  and  read.  Osselln 
accordingly  opened  It,  and  they  found  that  It  was 
In  English.  As  they  had  no  interpreter  they  were 
much  at  a  loss,  as  he  was  gone  to  examine  some 
English  papers  In  the  Fauxbourg  St.  Germain. 
Osselln,  who  was  president,  made  me  leave  the 
chair,  and  come  to  his  side  and  read  the  letter  and 
interpret  It  to  them.  They  said  that  some  of  them 
understood  English  enough  to  know  whether  I  told 
them  the  truth. 

In  the  first  place.  Sir  Godfrey  Webster  had 
enclosed  in  this  letter  a  printed  paper  in  French, 
which  was  Latouche  Freville's  manifesto  to  the 
King  of  Naples.  I  then  proceeded  to  read  his 
letter  to  Fox.  It  was  full  of  praise  and  admira- 
tion of  the  courage  and  energy  of  the  French  na- 
tion, and  also  of  high  admiration  of  the  manifesto. 
In  short,  the  letter  greatly  delighted  them. 

As  the  interpreter  came  in,  and  read  it  as  I  had 
done,  they  were  all  in  good  humor  with  me  except 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      i6i 

Chabot.  Osselln  wanted  to  conduct  me  home  in 
one  of  the  coaches  belonging  to  the  Comite,  for 
they  had  all  coaches.  This  I  declined.  I  told 
them  of  the  two  cruel  nights  I  had  passed,  and 
they  were  very  angry  with  the  people  of  my  Section. 
However,  I  noticed  Chabot  in  conversation  with 
the  barber;  and  when  I  was  about  to  leave  the 
room,  and  Osselin  was  giving  me  his  arm,  Chabot 
said  softly,  "  Citoyenne,  I  have  some  more  ques- 
tions to  ask  you.  Do  you  know  D'Orleans  or 
Egalitef"  I  said,  "  Yes."  "  Had  you  not  some 
conversation  with  him  in  the  outer  room  before 
you  came  in  here?"  I  said,  "I  merely  asked 
him,  how  are  you?"  "And  pray  what  did  he 
say?"  I  told  them  that  he  said  "  Mon  Dieu  I 
I  am  sorry  to  see  you  here  indeed !  "  Chabot  said, 
"  Then  it  is  plain  that  he  thought  and  feared  that 
you  were  to  be  examined  on  his  account,  and  that 
he  was  alarmed  lest  you  should  betray  him." 

I  now  became  very  much  alarmed  and  hurt,  and 
burst  into  tears.  He  said,  "  We  don't  mind  tears. 
I  wish  that  we  had  all  those  which  had  been  shed 
in  this  room  — they  would  supply  all  the  houses  in 
Paris   with   water."     He   then  went  on,    "  Don't 


i62      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

you  know  that  D'Orleans  wanted  to  be  king,  and 
destroy  the  repubhc?  "  I  said,  "  I  am  sure  that 
he  never  did."  He  said,  "  You  know  that  he  did: 
he  voted  for  the  King's  death  for  that  purpose." 
I  said,  "  I  wish  from  my  soul  that  he  never  had 
done  so;  he  might  now  be  happy."  "Why  then 
did  he  do  it?"  "  Because  you  all  forced  him  to 
commit  that  dreadful  sin."  "  So  you  think  it  was 
a  sin?  You  are  very  impudent  to  say  so  here;  for 
we  are  fifty  members  in  this  room,  and  we  all  voted 
the  death  of  the  tyrant  Capet,  but  not  to  be  kings 
ourselves,  but  only  to  rid  the  world  of  that  horrid 
race.  And  now  we  will  see  what  we  can  do  for 
this  would-be  king,  who  was  always  turning  to  that 
gulf  of  liberty,  England,  where  he  is  now  in  cor- 
respondence, and  so  are  you.  I  shall  not  let  you 
escape.  Send  her  to  La  Force ;  she  must  go  to  the 
Tribunal;  let  us  settle  this." 

About  twenty  of  the  members  then  got  up,  and 
said  that  this  was  not  right;  that  they  must  take 
more  information  respecting  me;  that  I  should 
have  leave  to  return  home;  that  if  I  was  a  friend 
of  Fox,  I  could  not  be  a  conspirator.  In  short, 
they  were  in  a  dreadful  uproar  about  me,  when 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      163 

Robespierre  came  Into  the  room.  He  seemed 
much  occupied  about  some  event  of  Importance, 
and  I  was  dismissed  till  further  orders. 

I  returned  home  and  went  to  bed,  though  It  was 
not  more  than  four  o'clock.  At  eight  o'clock  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  sent  to  my  house,  to  say  that  he 
would  come  and  see  me  the  next  day,  Sunday,  at 
twelve  o'clock.  When  I  woke  they  gave  me  his 
note.  I  answered  It,  and  begged  that  he  would 
not  come,  as  I  wanted  to  go  to  Meudon  early  In  the 
morning;  but  that  I  should  return  at  night,  and 
should  be  glad  to  see  him.  I  told  my  servant  to 
take  It  to  the  Palais  Royal  at  eight  o'clock  In  the 
morning.  My  servant  returned  directly  after- 
wards, and  brought  me  back  my  note.  He  In- 
formed me  that  the  Duke  had  been  arrested  In  his 
bed  at  four  o'clock  In  the  morning,  and  taken  with- 
out servants  or  anybody  but  his  son  the  Comte  de 
Beaujolais,  a  boy  of  eleven  years  of  age,  to  the 
prison  of  the  Abbaye;  and  that  his  servants  were 
gone  to  the  Comlte  of  Surveillance  to  try  and  get 
leave  to  attend  him  there.  They  allowed  him  his 
valet-de-chambre,  Mongot,  for  that  day,  and  a 
footman  for  the  child. 


i64      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

This  event  much  shocked  me,  as  the  end  was 
now  too  plain.  Mongot  came  to  me  on  the  Mon- 
day about  two  o'clock,  and  told  me  that  they  had 
kept  him  all  night  in  a  cell,  and  that  at  three  o'clock 
he  heard  a  carriage  with  post-horses  drive  out  of 
the  prison-yard.  He  suspected  that  it  was  the 
Duke  whom  they  were  carrying  away,  as  they  had 
confined  him.  About  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning 
they  set  him  at  liberty,  and  told  him  that  his  master 
was  gone  where  he  never  could  see  him  again. 
They  had  been  to  the  Palais  Royal  to  get  his  trav- 
elling-carriage at  twelve  o'clock  the  night  before. 
He  had  eight  post-horses  and  sixty  gensd'armes 
to  escort  him  to  Marseilles,  for  it  was  there  they 
took  him  and  the  little  Comte  de  Beaujolais. 
They  confined  them  in  the  Fort  St.  Jean,  quite  at 
the  bottom,  where  he,  I  understood,  was  very  ill- 
used.  I  never  saw  him  afterwards.  When  he 
was  brought  back  to  Paris  to  be  tried  and  exe- 
cuted, I  was  myself  a  miserable  prisoner. 

Monsieur  le  Due  de  Montpensier  was  then  at 
Nice,  aide-de-camp  to  the  Due  de  Biron,  who  com- 
manded that  army.  An  order  had  been  sent  di- 
recting poor  Biron  to  arrest  the  young  Prince,  and 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      165 

to  send  him  with  a  strong  escort  to  the  Fort  of 
Marseilles.  This  was  a  cruel  task  for  him  to  per- 
form against  the  son  of  his  old  friend,  and  against 
a  young  man  whom  he  loved  as  his  own  child. 
They  were  just  going  to  sit  down  to  dinner  at  the 
moment  when  the  order  came.  The  Due  de  BIron 
was  so  much  affected  when  he  saw  the  order  that 
he  shed  tears,  turned  pale,  and  could  of  course 
eat  no  dinner.  He  looked  very  sadly  at  the  Due 
de  Montpensier,  and  the  young  man  flew  to  him, 
saying,  "General,  Is  my  poor  father  murdered? 
you  look  at  me  so  mournfully,  and  are  so  much 
affected.  I  am  sure  It  is  true.  Tell  me,  in  the 
name  of  God,  the  worst !  "  The  Duke  then  took 
the  young  Prince  in  his  arms,  and  showed  him  the 
cruel  order.  In  great  joy,  he  said,  "  Is  that  all? 
Good  God !  how  my  mind  is  eased !  I  thought 
that  my  father  was  no  more.  Let  me  go  directly; 
I  shall  try  to  amuse  him  in  his  captivity." 

This  anecdote  the  Due  de  BIron  told  me  soon 
afterwards,  when  we  were  both  prisoners  in  St. 
Pelagic. 

About  ten  days  after  the  Duke  of  Orleans  had 
been  sent  to  Marseilles,  the  Due  de  BIron  was 


i66      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

sent  to  St.  Pelagic  from  Nice,  under  an  escort. 
He  never  left  that  prison  till  he  went  to  the 
Tribunal  Revoltitionnaire,  and  thence  to  the  scaf- 
fold. He  suffered  death  about  ten  days  after  the 
Duke  of  Orleans. 

On  the  Monday  morning  on  which  the  Duke 
was  sent  to  Marseilles,  Madame  de  Perigord  came 
to  me  with  her  son  and  daughter  Melanie,  the  lat- 
ter about  nine  years  old.  She  is  now  Madame  de 
Noailles.  Her  son  was  about  five  years  old. 
Madame  de  Perigord  told  me  that  she  was  going 
off  in  the  night  with  a  friend  of  Madame  de  Jarnac 
for  Calais;  and  that  her  aunt,  and  her  uncle,  Mon- 
sieur de  Malesherbes,  had  been  arrested  that  morn- 
ing. She  declared  that  she  would  not  stay,  but 
would  leave  her  two  children  in  France;  that  she 
had  brought  them  to  me,  as  I  was  the  only  person 
in  the  world  to  whom  she  would  intrust  them. 
She  entreated  me  to  adopt  them  as  my  own.  She 
then  put  the  two  children  in  my  arms,  and  we  had 
a  very  affecting  scene.  She  soon  afterwards  took 
her  last  leave  of  them  and  me,  and  returned  to 
iMadame  de  Jarnac,  whence  she  went  to  Calais. 

Six  weeks  after  having  these  dear  children  un- 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      167 

der  my  protection,  I  was  sitting  hearing  Melanie 
read,  when  the  members  of  the  Comite  Revolu- 
tionna'tre  of  my  Section  came  into  my  room,  and 
told  me  that  now  I  really  was  going  in  good  earnest 
to  prison,  and  they  visited  my  papers,  putting  the 
seals  all  over  my  house.  Without  their  hearing 
me,  I  ordered  my  maid  to  take  the  children  as 
soon  as  I  was  gone  to  Madame  de  Jarnac,  who 
had  been  desired  by  their  mother,  in  case  of  my 
arrest,  to  send  them  to  a  person  who  had  been  her 
maid. 

After  they  had  made  the  visit  of  my  papers, 
and  ate  some  dinner,  which  I,  of  course,  did  not, 
they  allowed  me  to  take  linen  and  everything  I 
wanted,  put  me  into  a  hackney-coach,  and  drove 
to  the  prison  of  St.  Pelagic,  a  most  deplorable, 
dirty,  uncomfortable  hole.  This  prison  had  been 
used  before  the  Revolution  as  a  house  of  correc- 
tion. It  was  six  o'clock  when  I  got  there  in  the 
month  of  May.  It  had  been  a  beautiful  day,  but 
no  appearance  of  spring  or  summer  w^as  to  be 
found  in  this  sad  habitation!  The  other  prison- 
ers were,  like  myself,  all  in  tears,  dreading  what 
was  to  happen,  and  full  of  pity  and  kindness  for 


i68      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

me,  their  new  companion.  We  became  all  Inti- 
mate friends  in  a  moment.  There  I  saw  many 
who  I  had  hoped  were  out  of  France;  but  about 
eight  o'clock,  when  they  brought  us  our  miserable 
supper,  ham,  eggs,  and  dirty  water,  whom  should 
I  see,  and  who  should  come  and  take  me  In  his 
arms,  and  burst  Into  tears,  but  the  unfortunate 
Due  de  BIron !  I  scarcely  ever  was  more  affected 
in  my  life. 

In  the  prison  also  I  found  Madame  Laurent, 
a  friend  of  the  poor  Duke's.  Of  course  the  pris- 
oners were  eager  to  hear  the  news,  as  they  had 
no  sort  of  intercourse  with  people  out  of  prison. 
I  could  only  wound  them  with  horrible  truths  of 
what  was  going  on.  The  next  day  many  other 
prisoners  arrived,  and  every  day  more  and  more. 
Many  were  daily  taken  off  to  the  scaffold.  I 
feared  for  poor  Biron.  We  could  have  little  con- 
versation, for  the  men  and  women  were  on  dif- 
ferent sides  in  that  prison;  Indeed  our  chief  con- 
versation was  from  one  window  to  the  other  op- 
posite. 

I  did  not  stay  at  St.  Pelagle  long.  It  was  in 
June,  I  think,  that  I  left  it;  but  cannot  be  exact, 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      169' 

as  the  months  were  different  in  France,  and  I 
never  really  knew  what  month  it  was.  Poor 
Madame  Du  Barri  came  there  before  I  left  it. 
She  was  very  unhappy.  She  used  to  sit  on  my  bed 
for  hours,  telling  me  anecdotes  of  Louis  XV.  and 
the  Court.  She  talked  to  me  much  of  England 
and  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  with  whom  she  was 
enchanted.  She  regretted  much  ever  having  left 
England.  She  dreaded  her  fate.  Indeed,  she 
showed  very  little  courage  on  the  scaffold;  yet, 
I  believe,  had  every  one  made  as  much  resistance 
as  she  did,  Robespierre  would  not  have  dared  to 
put  so  many  to  death,  for  Madame  Du  Barri's 
screams,  they  told  me,  frightened  and  alarmed  the 
mob.  She  was  very  good-natured,  and  during  the 
time  I  lived  in  the  same  prison  with  her  I  liked  her 
much. 

I  had  been  sent  to  St.  Pelagic  while  the  Comite 
dii  Saint  Public  was  visiting  the  Duke  of  Orleans' 
papers,  and  they  thought  that  I  should  be  found 
to  have  been  an  agent  of  the  Duke's  about  Eng- 
land. They  found,  however,  nothing  that  could 
induce  them  to  suppose  that  I  had  any  correspon- 
dence with  the  Duke;  and  I  was  fortunate  enough 


I70      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

to  have  been  sent  for  by  the  Comite  du  Salut  Pub- 
lic to  hear  a  letter  read  in  EngHsh,  which  was 
found  on  the  visit  of  the  Duke's  papers.  They 
wanted  to  learn  if  I  knew  anything  of  the  writer, 
who  he  was,  and  what  it  could  mean?  I  was 
much  alarmed  when  the  guard  took  me  from  St. 
Pelagie  to  the  Tuileries,  where  the  Comite  sat. 
However,  I  found  that  this  famous  letter  to  the 
Duke  was  one  from  old  Mr.  Vernon  about  horses 
and  bets,  and  Newmarket,  &c.,  all  of  which  they 
thought  had  a  double  meaning.  In  short,  that  un- 
fortunate letter  was  once  more  produced  at  the 
Tribunal  on  the  poor  Duke's  trial,  and  was  one 
of  the  pretexts  for  condemning  him  to  death. 

They  kept  me  all  night  under  examination,  but 
they  found  that  I  could  give  them  no  great  satis- 
faction. In  the  morning  they  sent  me  home,  and 
people  to  take  the  seals  off  my  house.  I  never 
knew  why  they  treated  me  so  well  at  that  moment. 
While  I  was  at  the  Comite  they  received  a  letter 
from  the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  desire  them  to  send 
him  soixante  mille  francs,  and  I  heard  them  say 
that  trcnte  inille  was  enough  for  his  expenses.  The 
members  who  examined  me  were  Barrere,  Billaud 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      171 

de  Varennes,  Merlin  de  Douay,  and  Robespierre, 
who  asked  me  himself  several  questions,  but  he 
was  not  at  the  Board:  he  was  going  in  and  out  of 
the  room.  All  this  took  place  in  the  King's  fine 
room  In  the  Pavilion  de  Flore,  where  they  held  the 
Comlte;  and  the  same  furniture  remained  which 
the  poor  King  had.  It  was  in  that  very  room  that 
all  the  murders  were  signed,  even  that  of  the  un- 
fortunate Queen  herself. 

I  went  from  St.  Pelagic  without  supposing  that 
I  was  not  to  return,  and  therefore  took  no  leave  of 
my  poor  friends  there.  My  own  house  was  very 
dreary.  I  never  was  one  moment  happy;  at  every 
noise  expecting  that  they  were  coming  to  arrest  me. 
I  almost  wished  that  they  had  left  me  in  St.  Pel- 
agic. I  had  no  friends.  The  only  person  whom 
I  saw  now  and  then  was  Madame  de  Jarnac.  She, 
poor  woman !  was  not  in  better  situation  than  my- 
self. I  also  saw  Mrs.  Meyler.  She  came  to  live 
in  my  neighbourhood. 


CHAPTER  VII 


CHAPTER  VII 

About  the  6th  of  September  I  went  one  night 
to  see  Mrs.  Meyler,  who  was  ill.  With  her  were 
two  or  three  French  ladies,  and  we  supped  to- 
gether. I  was  in  better  spirits  than  for  some  time 
previously.  About  half-past  eleven  o'clock,  I 
walked  home  with  my  servant.  This  was  a  late 
hour  at  that  period  in  Paris.  When  I  came  into 
my  room  to  undress,  my  maid  looked  very  dull, 
and  she  said,  "  Mon  Dieu !  Madame,  how  gay  you 
look  to-night!  I  have  not  seen  you  look  so  gay 
or  so  well  these  many,  many  months." 

"  No,"  I  said;  "  I  really  feel  myself  more  com- 
fortable than  I  have  done  this  long  time." 

She  wished,  she  said,  that  I  might  have  noth- 
ing to  damp  my  mirth;  adding,  "  God  forbid,  that 
I  should!" 

I  said,  "  Then  don't  look  so  dismal.  I  hate 
to  see  you  look  so !  " 

175 


176      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

She  asked  me  if  I  had  heard  anything  of  the 
Queen's  trial?  1  was  sorry  she  talked  of  that, 
for  it  made  me  unhappy.  At  that  moment  the 
trial  of  the  unfortunate  Queen  was  going  on.  I 
then  went  to  bed.  My  maid  wished  me  "  good 
night,"  two  or  three  times,  and  kissed  my  hands. 
I  felt  her  tears  on  my  hands.  I  soon  fell  asleep, 
and  about  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  my  maid  came 
into  my  room,  and  said,  "  Madame,  get  up  di- 
rectly. There  is  no  time  to  lose.  You  are  to  be 
arrested  at  nine  o'clock;  and  your  death-warrant 
is  signed !  I  had  this  information  last  night  from 
your  grocer,  who  is  one  of  the  members  of  the 
Section,  but  he  wishes  you  well,  and  advises  you 
to  make  your  escape.  I  was  to  have  told  you  this 
last  night,  but  I  had  not  the  heart  to  do  so;  you 
looked  so  happy,  and  I  have  not  seen  you  so  for  a 
long  time." 

I  only  half-dressed  myself.  I  took  my  dia- 
monds, and  other  things  which  might  be  put  into 
my  pocket.  I  did  not  even  wait  to  tie  my  petti- 
coats on,  for  we  did  not  for  certain  know  when 
the  wretches  might  come.  I  ran  into  the  fields 
behind  Monceau,  but  did  not  know  where  to  go. 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      177 

All  the  morning  I  wandered  about  the  new  Boule- 
vards, till  I  got  to  the  Porte  St.  Denis.  Then  re- 
membering that  MUor,^"^  the  maitre-de-ballet  of  the 
Opera,  and  his  wife,  BIgotlnl,  lived  at  the  top  of 
the  Fauxbourg  St.  Denis,  although  I  hardly  knew 
them,  I  went  there,  as  they  were  staunch  royalists, 
and  were  known  to  be  good  people.  They  re- 
ceived me  with  kindness,  pitied  me,  but  could  not 
keep  me,  as  they  expected  visits  in  the  night,  and 
I  should  be  searched  for.  They  therefore  thought 
it  best  for  me  to  try  and  get  to  my  house  at  Meu- 
don,  when  it  was  dark.  M.  Mllor  was  good 
enough  to  walk  with  me  there  at  ten  o'clock  at 
night,  and  to  return  in  a  cabriolet,  which  he  was 
fortunate  enough  to  meet  with  at  twelve  o'clock 
at  night. 

I  then  went  down  with  my  dairy-maid  to  the 
village,  and  made  the  mayor  get  up.  He  was  an 
honest  labourer,  who  had  a  great  regard  for  me, 
as  had  many  others  of  the  same  class,  who  be- 
longed to  the  municipality.  I  told  the  mayor  my 
situation;  that  I  expected  every  hour  the  people 
from  Paris  would  arrive  to  arrest  me;  that  of 
course  when  they  could  not  find  me  in  Paris,  they 


178      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

would  be  sure  to  come  there.  I  told  him  that  all 
I  feared  was  being  taken  to  Paris;  that  the  people 
of  my  Section  had  always  ill-used  me,  and  accused 
me  of  being  a  royalist;  and  that  I  should  be  lost  If 
I  were  taken  again  to  the  prisons  In  Paris.  I  en- 
treated him  to  call  up  the  municipality  and  arrest 
me,  and  then  keep  me  in  the  castle  prison  of 
Meudon. 

The  mayor,  who  was  a  very  sensible  man,  said 
that  he  could  not  assist  me;  that  Versailles  was  the 
chief  authority  for  the  Seine  et  Oise;  that  I  was 
then  out  of  the  department  of  Paris,  which  was 
that  on  Seine  only,  and  that  my  Section  could  not 
touch  me  there.  He  assured  me  that  if  I  would 
go  home  to  bed,  they  would  not  come;  that  he 
would  get  on  his  horse  and  ride  over  to  the  Comite 
Revohitionnalre  at  Versailles ;  and  that  they  should 
come  and  arrest  me  In  the  morning. 

The  members  of  Sevres  could  have  arrested  me, 
but  I  dreaded  them,  as  they  were  as  bad  as  Paris 
for  me,  and  always  called  me  a  royalist.  I  took 
the  mayor's  wife  home  with  me,  and  she  slept  In 
the  next  room  to  me  —  at  least  for  an  hour,  for 
we  had  hardly  been  longer  In  bed,  when  there  came 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      179 

a  most  dreadful  thundering  and  ringing  at  my 
gates.  My  gardener  went  and  let  them  In.  It 
was  the  Section  from  Paris,  who  had  been  for  that 
of  Sevres,  as  Meudon  was  in  the  department  of 
Seine  et  Oise,  and  they  could  not  have  taken  me 
alone.  They  made  me  get  up  before  them  and 
the  gensd'armes,  who  were  all  in  my  house.  They 
searched  my  things;  upbraided  me  for  making  my 
escape,  and  said,  "Ah!  ma  mignonne  voiis  ne 
nous  echapperez  pas  this  time.  You  will  make  a 
good  appearance  on  the  Place  Louis  Quinze.  We 
will  all  go  and  see  you  make  your  exit:  It  will  be 
quite  a  fine  sight." 

While  they  were  sealing,  and  stealing  half  my 
clothes,  the  Coniite  of  Versailles  arrived.  They 
were  furious  at  those  of  Paris  for  having  dared  to 
come  into  their  department.  They  also  were  very 
angry  with  those  of  Sevres  for  joining  them  with- 
out the  leave  of  those  of  Versailles.  Both  were 
for  having  me,  and  I  anticipated  that  they  were 
going  to  fight,  had  not  the  gensd'armes  Interposed. 
At  last  they  sent  a  soldier  on  horseback  to  Ver- 
sailles, to  one  of  the  deputies  of  the  Convention, 
who  was  at  the  head  of  the  department  of  Seine  et 


i8o      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Oise,  to  know  what  to  do.  He  sent  a  written  or- 
der that  I  should  be  delivered  up  that  moment  to 
the  Comiteoi  Versailles,  and  that  I  should  be  taken 
directly  to  the  prison  there  called  the  Recollets. 
In  short  they  kept  me  on  my  legs  the  whole  day, 
and  they  drank  and  cooked  their  own  dinner 
in  my  rooms,  and  stayed  till  nine  o'clock  at 
night. 

From  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  it  had  been 
and  then  was,  a  rainy,  nasty  day.  I  was  put  in 
a  cart  with  some  wet  straw,  and  the  few  things 
which  they  allowed  me  to  take,  with  two  gens- 
d'armes,  four  of  them  also  following  it.  In  this 
way  we  went  through  the  woods  to  the  Comite 
at  Versailles,  who  sent  me  to  the  Recollets. 

W^hen  we  got  to  the  prison,  the  gaoler  said 
that  he  had  no  place  prepared  for  me,  and  that 
I  must  stay  all  night  in  the  guard-room  of  the 
prison;  as  there  was  a  bed  there,  and  I  might  lie 
down.  I  was  wet  to  the  skin,  and  111  with  weep- 
ing all  day,  and  so  tired  that  I  could  hardly  hold 
my  head  up.  The  gaoler's  wife  brought  me  some 
warm  wine  and  some  cold  beef  and  salad.  Of 
this  I  ate  something,  and  drank  the  wine,  drying 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      i8i 

myself  at  the  fire.  The  guards  who  were  In  the 
room  were  very  civil  and  good.  They  said  that 
they  would  not  smoke  In  the  guard-room,  but 
would  go  and  sit  out  on  the  stairs  all  night;  and 
that  I  might  safely  He  down  and  sleep,  for  they 
would  allow  no  creature  to  come  Into  the  room, 
or  to  insult  me.  Accordingly  I  lay  down  with 
my  damp  clothes  on,  and  I  slept  till  seven  o'clock. 
I  really  believe  that  in  the  whole  course  of  my  life 
I  never  slept  so  soundly,  though  God  knows  that  I 
was  not  happy;  but  complete  misery  had  stupefied 
me. 

In  the  morning  I  was  taken  into  the  prison,  a 
dreary  place;  however,  It  was  better  than  St. 
Pelagic.  Here  I  found  no  prisoners  but  felons. 
I  was  placed  in  a  very  large  room,  which  had  been 
previously  to  my  arrival  occupied  by  about  three 
or  four  hundred  rabbits,  and  was  offensive  and 
dirty.  I  am  sure  that  there  was  room  for  at  least 
forty  beds.  In  one  corner  was  a  miserable  truckle- 
bed,  with  two  old  chairs  and  a  dirty  old  table,  a 
candle  and  candlestick,  dogs  and  fire-irons,  and  a 
fire-place  where  an  ox  might  have  been  roasted  at 
full  length.     I  had  indeed  an  immensely  large  fire, 


i82      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

which  looked  comfortable.  For  the  whole  time 
I  stayed  in  that  prison,  I  was  never  refused  fire, 
as  they  were  at  that  time  burning  all  the  gates  and 
barriers,  rails,  and  green  posts  which  were  In  the 
woods  and  parks  round  Versailles. 

I  was  now  examined  and  visited  by  the  deputy 
who  was  commanding  in  the  department  of  Seine 
et  Olse.  He  was  the  terror  of  everybody  about 
there;  but  I  was  fortunate  enough  not  to  displease 
him  in  the  conversation  we  had,  and  ever  after  I 
found  him  Inclined  to  treat  me  better  than  the 
other  prisoners.  I  was  much  annoyed  at  having 
in  the  next  room  to  me  a  poor  Jew,  who  was  con- 
demned to  be  executed  the  following  day,  for  hav- 
ing robbed  and  murdered  a  farmer  at  Rambouillet. 
He  made  a  most  terrible  lamentation,  and  cried  all 
night,  which  made  me  very  unhappy.  I  talked  to 
him  early  In  the  morning  from  my  grated  window, 
exhorting  him  to  trust  in  God  for  pardon,  and  to 
suffer  his  punishment  with  resignation.  I  told  him 
that  I  myself  might  soon  be  In  a  similar  situation; 
and  that  though  I  had  committed  no  crime  which 
merited  death,  yet  I  should  not  complain  as  he  was 
doing.     They  brought  the  cart  for  him  at  eleven 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      183 

o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  he  confessed  the  crimes, 
and  died  very  penitently. 

This  event,  and  my  own  cruel  situation,  brought 
me  into  so  nervous  a  state  the  whole  day,  that  I 
knew  nobody,  nor  did  I  even  swallow  a  bit  of 
bread,  though  I  understood  that  as  I  had  money 
in  my  pocket  I  might  have  anything  I  pleased  to 
eat  or  drink.  About  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
as  I  was  sitting  crying  by  my  fire,  the  gaoler  and 
his  wife  came  into  the  room  with  a  bed  like  mine. 
They  were  kind  to  me,  and  said  that  they  were 
happy  to  tell  me  that  I  was  going  to  have  a  com- 
panion. I  asked,  who?  They  said,  a  very  old 
man,  and  that  he  was  English.  I  was  hurt  at  the 
idea  of  having  a  male  companion. 

However,  when  the  poor  prisoner  came  in,  I 
found  that  it  was  old  Dr.  Gem,  an  English  physi- 
cian, who  had  been  forty  years  in  France,  and 
who  was  eighty  years  of  age.  I  was  indeed  much 
hurt  to  see  a  man  of  his  great  age  entering  such  a 
wretched  place.  He  was  himself  much  shocked 
and  surprised  to  see  me  there,  as  he  had  heard  that 
my  fate  was  soon  to  be  decided.  He  knew  that 
he  ran  no  risk  of  being  murdered;  for  he  was  a 


i84      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

philosopher,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  an  atheist.  He 
seemed  to  want  much  to  talk  of  these  subjects  to 
me;  but  I  used  to  entreat  him  to  leave  me  in  what 
he  called  ignorance;  for  religion  was  my  only 
comfort  in  all  the  trying,  miserable  scenes  I  went 
through.  That  alone  supported  me  to  the  last, 
while  he,  poor  man,  was  in  despair  at  being  shut 
out  from  the  world  and  every  comfort.  I  used 
to  try  and  divert  him,  and  make  him  laugh.  He 
then  would  burst  out  Into  tears,  and  say,  "  You 
seem  contented  and  happy,  when  you  may  probably 
in  a  few  days  be  dying  on  the  scaffold;  while  I,  a 
miserable  old  man,  am  regretting  a  few  paltry 
comforts."  I  used  to  make  his  bed  and  clean  his 
part  of  the  room,  wash  his  face  and  hands,  and 
mend  his  stockings;  In  short,  do  every  office  for 
him  which  his  great  age  and  weakness  prevented 
him  doing  himself. 

At  that  period  we  were  allowed  candles  till  ten 
o'clock,  at  which  time  the  prison  was  shut  up. 
My  old  friend  used  to  go  to  bed  at  seven  o'clock, 
but  I  remained  up  till  ten  o'clock  at  work.  He 
used  to  get  up  at  four  o'clock  and  uncover  the 
wood  fire,  and  light  a  candle  and  read  Locke  and 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      185 

Helvetlus  till  seven  o'clock.  Then  he  would  come 
to  my  bedside,  and  awake  me,  and  many  a  time 
has  he  woke  me  out  of  a  pleasant  dream  of  being 
in  England,  and  with  my  friends,  to  find  myself 
in  a  dreary  prison  expecting  my  death-warrant 
every  time  the  door  opened. 

My  old  friend  frightened  me  sometimes,  as  I 
feared  that  he  might  die  in  the  night,  and  the 
gaoler  lived  at  the  end  of  the  court.  Besides, 
we  were  barred  into  our  rooms  with  the  felons 
next  to  us.  When  Battelier,^^  that  was  the  name 
of  the  deputy,  came,  I  asked  to  have  an  audience 
of  him.  I  told  him  before  all  the  Comite  of  Ver- 
sailles, who  were  there,  that  this  poor  old  man 
might  die  suddenly,  and  asked  that  he  might  be 
transferred  to  some  other  prison,  for  that  I  had 
not  strength  enough  to  support  so  tall  a  man  when 
he  was  in  his  fainting  fits.  I  said,  moreover,  that 
it  was  cruel  to  leave  me  alone  with  him;  and  that 
they  should  allow  his  old  housekeeper  to  come 
there  and  take  care  of  him.  As  he  was  a  Repub- 
lican, I  said,  I  could  not  conceive  why  they  should 
not  let  him  remain  in  his  own  house,  with  a  guard, 
whom  he  had  no  objection  to  pay. 


i86      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

The  deputy  said  that  he  thought  as  I  did;  and 
that  he  should  leave  the  prison  the  next  day,  and 
be  confined  at  his  house  at  Meudon.  I  never  felt 
more  pleasure  than  in  having  this  good  news  to 
tell  my  old  friend.  After  the  audience  I  was  con- 
ducted up  to  my  own  room,  where  I  found  the  poor 
doctor  in  bed  fast  asleep.  For  a  while  I  sat  and 
watched  him.  He  awoke  about  ten  o'clock,  and 
I  then  told  him  the  good  news.  He  was  delighted 
to  go  home,  but  he  really  felt  unhappy  about  me. 
I  had  procured  him  his  liberty,  but  mine  was  only 
to  be  obtained  on  the  scaffold !  He  wept  much, 
and  so  did  I  at  parting.  He  never  expected  to 
see  me  again;  but,  however,  we  did  both  live  to 
meet  again,  and  I  saw  him  the  day  before  he  died. 
He  had  from  the  commencement  of  his  imprison- 
ment a  great  regard  and  affection  for  me;  and 
when  I  came  out  of  prison  used  to  walk  a  mile  to 
see  me  every  day.  This  old  gentleman,  who  was 
well  known  in  the  literary  world  by,  I  believe, 
some  writings,  was  grand-uncle  to  Mr.  Huskisson, 
Under-Secretary  of  State. 

Once  more  I  was  alone,  but  only  for  a  very  short 
period.     The  Terror  gained  ground  so  fast,  that 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      187 

the  prison  was  soon  filled  with  unfortunate  royal- 
ists, and  we  were  then  deprived  of  every  comfort. 
The  little  money  which  we  had  was  taken  from  U5, 
and  our  silver  spoon  and  fork;  though,  strange  to 
say,  I  got  mine  back  again  two  years  afterwards, 
for  when  the  gaolers  took  them  from  us  they  gave 
us  a  number,  and  told  us  that  our  things  were  sent 
with  that  number  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 

When  I  got  out  of  prison  I  was  one  day  looking 
over  some  papers,  and  found  my  number,  which 
was  79.  My  maid  offered  to  go  to  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  with  it,  and  see  what  they  would  say  to  her. 
On  delivering  in  my  number  they  gave  her  my 
spoon  and  fork  out  of  many  others,  together  with 
the  money,  thimble,  scissors,  knives,  and  other 
articles;  at  which  we  were  much  surprised. 

We  were  now  deprived,  in  short,  of  every  com- 
fort, for  we  were  henceforth  fed  by  the  nation. 
The  gaoler  was  allowed  about  eight  pence  Eng- 
lish a  day  for  our  food,  and  God  knows  he  did 
not  spend  six  pence.  We  had  for  constant  food 
boiled  haricots,  sometimes  hot  and  sometimes  cold; 
when  hot  they  were  dressed  with  rancid  butter, 
when  cold  with  common  oil;  we  had  also  bad  eggs 


i88      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

dressed  in  different  ways.  A  favourite  thing  was 
raw  pickled  herrings,  of  which  they  gave  us  quan- 
tities, as  the  Dutch  had  sent  great  quantities  of 
them  to  Paris  to  pay  part  of  a  debt  which  they 
owed  to  the  Republic.  Sometimes  we  had  what 
was  called  soup  and  bouilli,  but  we  were  always 
sick  after  eating  it.  Some  of  the  prisoners 
thought  that  it  was  human  flesh  which  was  given 
us ;  but  I  really  think  that  It  was  horses'  or  asses' 
flesh,  or  dead  cows.  In  short,  the  poorest  beg- 
gars in  England  would  not  eat  the  things  which 
we  were  forced  to  do.  Our  bread  was  made  of 
barley,  and  very  dirty,  and  used  to  make  our 
throats  sore.  At  that  time  I  had  a  very  dan- 
gerous sore  throat,  and  was  not  able  to  swallow 
the  least  thing  for  three  days.  I  had  no  gargles, 
no  softening  things,  or  even  a  drop  of  clean  water 
to  cool  my  mouth,  though  I  was  in  a  raging  fever. 
No  creature  who  had  not  been  in  such  a  situation 
can  Imagine  what  I  suffered.  I  prayed  fervently 
for  death.  Though  I  was  In  a  miserable  dirty 
truckle-bed,  yet  I  thought  that  anything  was  better 
than  perishing  by  the  hands  of  the  executioner, 
and  being  made  a  show   for  the  horrid  crowds 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      189 

which  followed  the  poor  victims  to  the  scaffold. 
However,  without  care  or  comfort  I  was  miserable 
in  finding  that  my  throat  got  better,  and  at  last  I 
was  restored  to  perfect  health.  While  I  was  ill 
my  unfortunate  female  companions  were  all  kind- 
ness to  me;  they  even  deprived  themselves  of  the 
little  water  they  could  spare  for  my  use. 

Common  misfortune  had  made  us  sincere,  even 
romantic  friends,  and  we  were  always  ready  to  die 
for  one  another.  The  gaoler  used  to  fill  for  us 
in  the  morning  a  wine-bottle  full  of  dirty  water, 
and  each  prisoner  had  his  own.  That  was  to  serve 
for  the  whole  day,  for  the  gaolers  would  not  have 
been  at  the  trouble  to  fill  them  twice.  Sometimes 
we  used  to  get  a  drop  of  brandy  from  the  turnkeys, 
who  had  always  a  great  leather  bottle  in  their 
pocket,  and  used  to  offer  us  a  drop  out  of  it. 
However  nasty,  I  found  it  of  great  use  to  me,  as  I 
always  washed  my  mouth  with  it,  and  was  one  of 
the  only  prisoners  who  had  not  tooth-ache,  and 
who  indeed  did  not  lose  their  teeth,  from  the  damp- 
ness of  the  rooms,  which  were  very  large.  The 
gaoler  who  was  In  that  prison  when  I  first  went 
there  had  been  dismissed,  and  one  of  the  Septem- 


190       DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

brists  was  now  put  in  his  place.  From  that  period 
our  life  was  a  scene  of  agony.  Once  or  twice  I 
asked  the  gaoler  for  a  little  warm  water  to  wash 
myself.  This  he  told  me  would  be  nonsense;  for 
nothing  could  save  me  from  the  executioner's 
hands,  and  as  they  were  dirty,  It  was  no  use  to  clean 
myself. 

I  was  much  shocked  one  day  on  going  Into  the 
gaoler's  room,  where  we  used  sometimes  to  go 
when  we  wanted  anything.  He  was  sitting  at  a 
table  with  a  very  handsome,  smart  young  man, 
drinking  wine.  The  gaoler  told  me  to  sit  down, 
and  drink  a  glass  too.  I  did  not  dare  to  refuse. 
The  young  man  then  said,  "  Well,  I  must  be  off," 
and  looked  at  his  watch.  The  gaoler  replied, 
"  No ;  your  work  will  not  begin  till  twelve  o'clock." 
I  looked  at  the  man,  and  the  gaoler  said  to  me, 
"You  must  make  friends  with  this  citizen;  It  is 
young  Samson,  the  executioner,  and  perhaps  It 
may  fall  to  his  lot  to  behead  you."  I  felt  quite 
sick,  especially  when  he  took  hold  of  my  throat 
saying,  "  It  will  soon  be  off  your  neck,  It  is  so  long 
and  small.  If  I  am  to  despatch  you,  It  will  be 
nothing  but  a  squeeze."     He  was  going  at  that 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      191 

moment  to  execute  a  poor  Vendean  prisoner  in  the 
market-place  of  Versailles.  We  had  many  prison- 
ers taken  from  our  prison  to  Paris  to  be  tried  by 
the  Tribunal  Rev olutionn aire,  who  were  all  exe- 
cuted. I  was  In  hopes  that  I  should  have  re- 
mained long  at  Versailles. 

About  the  26th  of  October  the  news  of  the  poor 
Queen's  execution  reached  us.  Nothing  now  sur- 
prised us;  for  we  had  then  been  used  to  nothing 
but  horrors.  We  heard  of  the  Queen's  greatness 
and  courage  with  admiration,  and  we  all  deter- 
mined to  try  and  imitate  so  great  and  good  an 
example.  All  envied  her  her  fate;  as  indeed  we 
did  that  of  every  victim  when  their  execution  was 
over;  but  there  was  something  dreadful  in  being 
dragged  through  a  rabble  to  a  scaffold. 


CHAPTER  yill 


CHAPTER  VIII 

On  the  5th  of  November  I  heard  of  the  fate  of 
the  unfortunate  Duke  of  Orleans.  It  Is  needless 
to  say  what  I  felt  on  that  occasion.  I  was  not 
aware  that  he  had  been  removed  from  Marseilles 
to  Paris  till  I  heard  of  his  death.  I  know  that  he 
died  with  great  courage.  He  was  tried,  con- 
demned, and  executed  in  the  space  of  two  hours! 
A  man-servant  of  mine  by  accident  met  the  cart 
in  which  he  was,  in  the  Rue  du  Roule,  near  the 
Pont  Neuf.  He  knew  that  there  were  con- 
demned people  in  it,  but  he  was  shocked  to  death 
when  he  saw  the  Duke  of  Orleans  in  it.  My  poor 
servant  was  nearly  fainting,  but  was  determined 
to  follow  the  Duke  to  the  scaffold.  There  was 
very  little  mob  the  whole  way,  though  by  the  time 
they  got  to  the  Palais  Royal,  the  Duke's  own  pal- 
ace, people  began  to  assemble.  Till  that  moment 
no  creature  had  even  an  idea  of  the  Duke's  having 

195 


196      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

been  tried.  Under  his  own  windows  they  stopped 
him  for  ten  minutes.  He  looked,  my  servant  since 
told  me,  very  grave,  and  as  he  did  in  former  days 
when  he  was  going  out  on  any  occasion  of  cere- 
mony. He  was  very  much  powdered,  and  looked 
very  well.  His  hands  were  tied  behind  him,  and 
his  coat  thrown  over  his  shoulders.  His  coat  was 
light  grey,  with  a  black  collar.  When  the  cart 
moved  from  the  Palais  Royal,  the  Duke  looked 
at  the  mob  with  a  sort  of  indignation.  He  did  not 
alter  in  any  way,  but  carried  his  head  very  high 
till  the  cart  turned  on  the  Place  Louis  Quinze; 
then  he  saw  the  scaffold  before  him;  and  my  man 
said  that  he  turned  very  pale,  but  still  held  up  his 
head.  Three  other  prisoners  were  with  him  in 
the  cart  —  a  Madame  de  Kolly,  a  very  beautiful 
woman,  wife  to  a  farmer-general,  a  man  of  the 
name  of  Coustard,  a  deputy  of  the  Convention  but 
of  the  Gironde  party,  and  a  blacksmith  of  the  name 
of  Brouce,  for  having  made  a  key  to  save  some 
papers.  It  was  nearly  four  o'clock  when  the  cart 
got  to  the  scaffold,  and  it  was  almost  dark. 
Therefore,  in  order  that  the  mob  might  see  the 
Duke's  head,  he  was  the  first  who  was  executed. 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      197 

He  leaped  up  the  ladder  with  great  haste,  looked 
round  at  everybody,  helped  the  executioner  to  undo 
his  neckcloth,  and  did  not  speak  one  word  or  make 
the  least  resistance.  They  afterwards  held  up  his 
head  to  the  mob. 

Thus  ended  the  life  of  a  man  who  will  never 
be  forgotten,  and  whose  last  crime  will  cause  his 
name  ever  to  be  remembered  with  horror !  I  dare 
hardly  say  that  he  had  many  amiable  qualities,  and 
that  his  horrible  fate  was  brought  about  by  a  set 
of  ambitious  men.  As  I  have  previously  observed, 
they  left  him  in  the  hands  of  men  still  worse  than 
themselves.  Unfortunately  the  Court  never  al- 
lowed him  a  chance  of  getting  out  of  their  hands. 
I  could  say  much  on  this  subject;  but  I  should  not 
be  believed,  and  the  subject  always  makes  me  un- 
happy. 

In  the  beginning  of  December,  the  poor  Due 
de  Biron  suffered  death,  nearly  a  month  after  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  had  been  executed.  I  heard  that 
he  was  much  affected  at  his  own  situation,  and 
showed  some  weakness  in  his  last  moments. 

When  the  seals  were  taken  off  the  Duke  of 
Orleans'  papers,  which  was  soon  after  his  death, 


198      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

I  was  closely  confined  in  a  dungeon,  without  even 
being  allowed  to  converse  with  the  other  prison- 
ers. I  was  very  uneasy,  fearing  that  the  letter 
which  I  had  written  to  the  Duke  after  the  King's 
death  might  have  been  found,  and  that  alone  would 
have  condemned  me.  However,  nothing  of  mine 
was  found,  and  after  three  weeks'  close  confine- 
ment, and  living  with  rats  and  mice,  I  was  allowed 
to  mix  with  the  other  prisoners.  At  that  time  a 
new  deputy  named  Crasseau  came  to  be  at  the  head 
of  the  department  of  Versailles.  He  was  a  great 
friend  of  Robespierre's,  and  had  great  powers. 
He  came  to  visit  our  prison,  and  said  that  I  seemed 
to  have  too  much  luxe,  and  that  I  was  very  much 
perfumed,  and  therefore  was  sure  that  I  was  a 
royalist.  I  said,  "  I  certainly  was,  or  I  should  not 
now  be  in  prison."  He  said,  if  I  was  "  I  should 
go  and  join  my  friends  in  the  Cimetiere  de  la  Ma- 
deleine —  that  was  the  only  place  for  royalists." 
I  told  him  that  I  often  wished  myself  there,  or 
anywhere  to  be  out  of  my  misery.  He  said  that 
he  "  should  take  care  that  my  wishes  should  be 
soon  accomplished;  "  adding  that  "  it  was  indeed 
neglect  in  the  other  deputy  not  to  have  sent  me 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      199 

up  to  the  Tribunal  Revolutionnaire  before,  but 
that  he  would  have  justice  done,  since  I  owned 
myself  a  royalist."  I  said,  "  Why,  I  am  sure  you 
never  could  doubt  that,  else  I  should  not  have  been 
so  cruelly  used.  I  suppose  you  don't  imprison  the 
republicans.  I  am  certain  that  if  I  had  been  ever 
so  good  a  republican,  I  should  have  hated  the  Re- 
public and  have  wished  its  destruction  a  thousand 
times,  for  all  the  misery  I  had  suffered."  On 
this  he  became  furious.  He  said  that  "  I  should 
go  to  Paris,  and  that  I  deserved  he  should  send 
me  there  that  instant;  that  my  name  was  noted  at 
the  Comite  de  Salut  Public;  and  that  I  should  soon 
be  brought  to  the  guillotine,  for  I  had  been  one 
of  the  agents  of  D'Orleans  for  England,  and 
wanted  either  to  have  made  an  English  prince 
king  of  France,  or  D'Orleans.  He  added  that  he 
knew  "  I  had  had  correspondence  with  the  Prince 
of  Wales;  and  that  I  was  only  fit  to  be  food  for 
the  mouth  of  a  cannon." 

In  short,  three  weeks  after  this  I  was  once  more 
removed  from  this  prison,  to  my  great  grief  and 
consternation;  and  taken  at  nine  o'clock  at  night, 
just  as  I  was  going  to  bed,  to  the  late  Queen's 


200      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

stables,  where  many  of  the  poor  people  of  Nantes 
had  just  arrived  on  their  road  to  Paris  to  be  tried. 
They  were  in  a  most  miserable  plight,  having  been 
marched  on  foot  from  Nantes,  many  of  them  very 
ill;  some  dying  on  the  road,  it  Is  supposed  of  the 
gaol  distemper.  This,  however,  I  doubt,  as  I 
slept  on  the  same  straw  with  them  all  night  In 
the  stables,  and  though  they  were  full  of  vermin  I 
got  nothing  dirty  from  them.  This  I  Impute  to  a 
sweet-scented  sachet  I  always  carried  In  my  corset, 
which  caused  that  monster  Crasseau  to  say  that  I 
was  covered  with  luxury. 

The  day  after  I  left  the  Recollets  for  the 
Queen's  stables,  a  cart  covered  over  at  the  top 
like  a  waggon,  with  large  Iron  bars  at  the  end, 
was  brought  Into  the  stable-yard.  It  was  filled 
with  straw,  and  we  were  put  in,  as  many  as  it 
would  hold.  I  understood  that  other  carts  ar- 
rived afterwards  for  the  other  prisoners,  who  were 
In  all  above  forty,  though  I  was  the  only  prisoner 
from  Versailles.  Every  one  of  them  was  taken 
to  the  Conclergerie  but  myself.  I  was  taken  to 
the  Grue  of  Plessis,  a  terrible  prison;  but  there 
was  no  room  for  me  in  It.     On  the  next  day  there- 


General  liochc 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      201 

fore  I  was  sent  to  the  Carmes  in  the  Rue  de  Vau- 
glrard,  a  prison  notorious  for  the  horrid  murders 
committed  there  on  the  poor  old  priests  and  the 
respectable  and  good  Bishop  of  Arras. 

I  ought  to  mention  that  on  our  road  from  Ver- 
sailles to  Paris,  the  populace  of  Sevres  pelted  us 
through  the  bars  of  our  waggon  with  mud,  dead 
cats,  and  old  shoes.  They  were  very  violent,  and 
called  us  dogs  and  aristocrats.  In  short  we  met 
with  ill-usage  all  the  way.  I  regretted  having  left 
the  Recollets;  there  at  least  the  air  was  better  than 
in  Paris,  and  many  good,  respectable  people  were 
there,  such  as  poor  farmers  and  old  labourers,  who 
could  not  make  up  their  minds  to  the  Republic, 
and  who  had  in  their  own  villages  expressed  too 
freely  their  abhorrence  of  the  new  system.  Many 
of  these  truly  good  and  pious  people  were  executed. 
There  were  some  nobles  in  the  prison  also,  but  few 
of  note.  When  I  got  to  the  Carmes  I  was  very 
unwell  and  tired,  very  dirty  and  uncomfortable. 
At  the  grefHer-room  of  the  prison  I  found  General 
Hoche,  who  had  just  been  sent  there.  I  had  not 
known  him  before,  nor  had  I  ever  till  then  sat 
down  in  a  room  with  any  republican  officer,  and  I 


202      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

think  that  had  I  been  at  liberty  nothing  earthly 
could  have  made  me  make  such  an  acquaintance. 
He,  however,  was  very  kind  and  civil  to  me.  He 
had  long,  he  said,  known  me  by  sight,  and  was 
sorry  to  make  himself  known  to  me  in  such  a  place. 
I  said,  "  General,  if  you  know  me,  you  cannot 
be  surprised  to  see  me  here;  but  I  assure  you  that 
I  am  much  surprised  to  see  you  here,  for  I  thought 
you  one  of  the  defenders  of  the  Revolution." 
"  So  I  am,"  said  he,  "  but  they  seem  to  forget  and 
oppress  their  real  friends;  however  I  hope  that  I 
shall  not  stay  here  long.  I  have  been  cruelly  slan- 
dered." He  asked  me,  who  was  in  the  prison? 
which  I  did  not  know,  as  the  greffier  had  not  done 
writing  for  at  least  two  hours.  They  brought 
Hoche  and  me  some  dinner,  very  nasty.  On  ac- 
count of  our  dismal  situation  we  became  after- 
wards very  good  friends.  When  we  entered  the 
prison,  Hoche  and  I  found  many  people  whom  we 
knew,  and  many  great  ladies,  who  all  seemed  to 
know  him,  such  as  the  Duchess  D'Aiguillon,  Ma- 
dame Lamotte,  Madame  Beauharnais,  now  Ma- 
dame Bonaparte,  Madame  de  Custine,  and  her  hus- 
band, who  was  beheaded  three  days  after  I  went 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      203 

into  the  Carmes.  I  knew  there  also  Madame  de 
Jarnac,  my  friend  Mrs.  Meyler,  and  Madame  de 
D'Araij.  Before  we  went  to  bed,  we  were  all  as 
good  friends  as  if  we  had  been  brought  up  to- 
gether. Indeed,  at  every  instant  we  all  equally 
expected  our  death-warrant.  They  were  delight- 
ful women,  and  bore  their  misfortunes  with  cour- 
age and  good  humour. 

Most  of  the  prisoners,  like  myself,  had  little 
reason  to  hope  they  would  leave  the  walls  of  the 
Carmes,  but  for  the  scaffold;  yet  in  spite  of  this 
horrid  prospect,  I  must  own  that  I  passed  many 
pleasant  moments  with  those  very  agreeable 
women,  who  were  all  full  of  talent,  none  more  so 
than  Madame  Beauharnais,  now  Madame  Bona- 
parte. She  is  one  of  the  most  accomplished,  good- 
humoured  women  I  ever  met  with.  The  only  lit- 
tle disputes  we  had  when  together  were  politics, 
she  being  what  was  called  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Revolution  constitutional,  but  she  was  not  in  the 
least  a  Jacobin,  for  nobody  suffered  more  by  the 
Reign  of  Terror  and  by  Robespierre  than  she  did. 

When  I  first  went  into  the  Carmes  T  slept  in  a 
room  where  we  were  eighteen  in  number,  and  Ma- 


204      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

dame  Bonaparte,  Madame  de  Custine  and  I  had 
our  beds  close  together,  and  we  have  often  made 
our  beds,  and  washed  the  room,  for  the  other 
prisoners  did  not  take  much  pains  about  it.  Two 
old  Frenchmen  and  their  wives  slept  in  our  room : 
they  were  nobles,  and  virtuous,  pious  people.  I 
ought  to  say  that  in  none  of  the  prisons  unmarried 
men  were  allowed  to  sleep  on  the  same  side  of  the 
house  with  the  women.  Some  who  had  their  rela- 
tions on  the  women's  side,  were  permitted  to  come 
to  us  for  an  hour  or  two. 

Madame  Beauharnais  had  been  parted  for  some 
years  from  her  husband,  the  Marquis  Alexandre 
Beauharnais.  We  were  therefore  much  surprised 
one  day  to  see  him  come  into  our  room,  as  a  pris- 
oner. His  wife  and  he  were  both  much  embar- 
rassed at  the  circumstance,  but  in  a  few  hours  they 
were  perfectly  reconciled.  A  small  closet  with 
two  beds,  was  granted  to  them,  where  they  slept 
together.  The  day  of  Beauharnais's  entrance  into 
the  prison  was  a  sad  day  for  that  beautiful 
little  creature  Madame  de  Custine;  for  on  that 
day  her  husband,  a  very  handsome  young  man  and 
son    to    General    Comte    de    Custine,    was    taken 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      205 

out  of  our  prison,  tried,  and  beheaded  the  next 
day! 

I  never  saw  a  scene  of  more  misery  than  the 
parting  between  this  young  couple.  I  really 
thought  that  she  would  have  dashed  her  brains 
out.  Madame  Beauharnais  and  I  did  not  leave 
her  for  three  days  and  nights.  However,  she  was 
young,  full  of  spirits,  and  a  Frenchwoman,  and  at 
the  end  of  six  weeks  she  got  into  better  spirits;  so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  poor  Madame  Beauharnais, 
who  really  seemed  to  be  attached  to  her  husband, 
became  very  unhappy.  I  was  her  confidante,  and 
did  everything  in  my  power  to  persuade  Beauhar- 
nais to  spare  his  wife's  feelings,  who  had  enter- 
tained a  sincere  friendship  for  Madame  de  Cus- 
tine  before  this  event.  I  am  far  from  supposing 
that  any  improper  connection  was  formed;  but  cer- 
tainly Beauharnais  was  more  in  love  than  it  is  pos- 
sible to  describe;  and  the  little  woman  seemed  to 
have  no  objection  to  his  attentions. 

But,  alas!  this  did  not  last  long;  for  the  Con- 
vention imagined,  or  pretended  to  imagine,  that 
there  was  a  conspiracy  in  our  prison.  We  were 
all  denounced  by  Barrere;  and  they  asserted  that 


2o6      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

we  had  laid  a  plan  to  set  fire  to  the  prison.  In 
short,  so  cruel  yet  absurd  was  the  accusation,  that 
when  the  Comite  du  Salut  Public  sent  for  fifty  pris- 
oners out  of  our  number  to  be  tried  for  the  con- 
spiracy, the  gaoler,  who  was  a  horrid  Jacobin, 
laughed  at  the  soldiers,  and  said,  "  A  conspiracy  I 
why  the  prisoners  here  are  all  as  quiet  as  lambs." 
However,  fifty  were  led  out  of  our  prison  to  the 
scaffold  for  that  same  conspiracy.  Amongst  the 
number,  who  were  all  men,  was  poor  Beauharnais; 
the  Chevalier  de  Chansenets,  brother  to  him  whose 
life  I  saved;  the  young  Duke  de  Charost;  the 
Prince  of  Salms;  a  General  Ward,  an  Irishman  in 
the  French  service,  and  his  servant;  and  a  young 
Englishman  of  the  name  of  Harrop,  who  had  been 
sent  to  the  Irish  college  for  his  education,  and 
whose  parents  had  never  sent  for  him  home.  He 
had  been  imprudent,  and  had  abused  the  Republic 
in  some  coffee-house.  In  consequence  of  which  he 
was  arrested.  He  was  only  eighteen  years  old. 
Two  other  young  men,  in  going  down  the  prison- 
stairs,  which  were  formed  like  a  well,  took  hold 
of  each  other's  hands,  and  leaped  down.  They 
were  dashed  to  pieces;  but  as  the  number  was  to 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      207 

be  fifty,  they  took  two  other  people  to  make  up  the 
number. 

I  never  saw  such  a  scene  as  the  parting  of 
Beauharnais,  his  wife,  and  Madame  de  Custine. 
I  myself  was  much  affected  at  poor  Beauharnais' 
fate,  for  I  had  known  him  many  years.  He  was 
a  great  friend  of  the  poor  Due  de  Biron,  and  I 
had  passed  weeks  in  the  same  house  with  him. 
He  was  a  very  pleasant  man,  though  rather  a  cox- 
comb. He  had  much  talent;  and  his  drawings 
were  beautiful.  He  took  a  very  good  likeness  of 
me,  which  he  gave  poor  little  Custine  when  he  left 
us.  His  poor  wife  was  inconsolable  for  some 
time;  but  she  was  a  Frenchwoman,  and  he  had 
not  been  very  attentive  to  her.  The  other  lady 
I  never  saw  smile  after  his  death. 

The  whole  fifty  were  executed  the  next  day. 
They  came  Into  our  ward  to  take  leave  of  us.  I 
knew  several  of  them,  and  poor  Chansenets  showed 
great  courage,  more  than  his  poor  brother  did  with 
me.  I  took  leave  of  the  Prince  de  Salms,  but  I 
did  not  pity  him  much;  he  had  almost  been  a 
Jacobin.  The  Due  de  Charost  was  a  sort  of  mad- 
man; he  was  a  descendant  of  the  great  Sully,  and 


208      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

had  married  Mademoiselle  de  Sully,  who  was  im- 
mensely rich.  Hoche,  who  was  at  this  period  very 
closely  confined  in  a  dungeon,  we  never  saw;  but 
they  allowed  him  at  last  to  mix  with  the  other 
prisoners,  and  he  was  then  a  great  deal  on  our 
side.  He  was  a  very  handsome  young  man,  with 
a  very  military  appearance,  very  good-humoured, 
and  very  gallant.  His  father  had  been  body- 
coachman  to  Louis  the  Sixteenth,  and  he  himself 
was  brought  up  from  an  infant  in  the  depot  of  the 
French  Guards.  I  believe  that  he  was  an  excellent 
officer,  at  least  I  have  heard  PIchegru  say  so. 
Hoche  was  liberated  before  the  death  of  Robes- 
pierre, and  a  command  was  given  him.  At  the 
time  he  left  the  prison  we  had  little  hopes  of  es- 
caping from  the  guillotine.  Every  day  prisoners 
went  from  our  prison  to  that  fatal  end,  and  we 
were  almost  in  despair. 

A  poor  man  and  his  wife,  who  used  to  keep  a 
stall  for  puppets  in  the  Champs  Elysees,  were 
brought  to  our  prison  for  having  shown  a  figure 
of  Charlotte  Corday,  which  was  handsome. 
These  poor  people  were  honest,  good  creatures, 
and  though  we  could  do  them  no  good,  yet  they 


Charlotte  Corday 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      209 

used  to  render  us  every  service  in  their  power. 
We  were  in  hopes,  as  they  were  poor,  that  they 
would  have  escaped;  but  alas!  they  were  dragged 
also  to  the  terrible  scaffold,  and  we  all  wept  their 
loss  sincerely.  In  short,  the  scenes  became  so 
dreadful,  that  it  was  Impossible  to  exist  much 
longer  in  such  a  state  of  constant  woe,  to  see  hus- 
bands forced  from  their  wives'  arms,  children  torn 
from  their  mothers,  their  screams  and  fits,  people 
when  they  could  get  a  knife  even  cutting  their  own 
throats !  Such  were  the  horrors  going  on  in  the 
Carmes,  and  we  expecting,  and  indeed  being  told, 
that  every  day  might  be  our  last.  This  was  what 
I  believe  we  all  wished,  yet  the  idea  of  the  means 
was  dreadful. 

But  even  in  all  these  moments  of  distress  my 
health  was  perfect;  and  God  Almighty  never  for- 
sook me,  as  I  bore  my  misfortunes  with  calmness 
and  resignation.  I  found  all  my  comfort  in  re- 
ligion. We  hardly  knew  anything  from  out  of 
doors,  and  were  often  in  fear  of  the  mob  breaking 
into  the  prison,  and  renewing  the  scenes  of  Sep- 
tember—  scenes  which  we  could  not  forget,  for 
the  walls  of  our  refectory,  and  even  the  wooden 


2IO      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

chairs,  were  still  stained  with  the  blood  and  brains 
of  the  venerable  old  priests  who  had  been  mur- 
dered there  on  that  horrible  day! 

I  forgot  to  mention  that  General  Santerre  — 
the  same  who  had  conducted  the  unfortunate  King 
to  the  scaffold,  and  who  had  ordered  the  drums 
to  be  beat  that  his  august  voice  might  not  be  heard 
by  the  people  —  was  also  a  prisoner  in  the  Carmes. 
He  never  could  live  In  friendship  with  me,  though 
he  was  always  attentive.  Many  of  our  great 
ladies  were  very  Intimate  with  him,  and  thought 
him  a  good-natured,  harmless  man.  He  assured 
us  all,  when  we  used  to  abuse  him  about  his  con- 
duct on  the  2ist  of  January,  that  he  had  orders 
if  the  King  spoke  to  have  all  the  cannons  fired  at 
him,  and  that  it  was  to  avoid  that  measure  he  had 
acted  as  he  did.  He  always  swore  that  he  re- 
gretted the  King's  death.  This,  however,  I  never 
believed.  He  was  liberated  before  the  death  of 
Robespierre,  owing,  I  believe,  to  his  giving  our 
gaoler  good  beer,  for  he  was  a  brewer.  He  used 
to  send  us  little  trifles  for  our  comfort,  and  I  will 
say  that  he  never  lost  an  opportunity  of  serving 
us.     When  he  was  at  liberty  he  sent  me  a  pound  of 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      211 

the  finest  green  tea  I  ever  drank,  and  some  sugar. 
He  also  sent  us  a  pie ;  but  the  gaoler  liked  that  too 
well  to  give  us  any  of  it. 

I  was  very  ungrateful  to  Santerre,  as  I  never 
saw  him  but  once  after  I  left  the  prison,  and  that 
was  in  coming  out  of  the  Opera.  I  was  ashamed 
to  be  seen  speaking  to  him,  though  he  lived  a  good 
deal  with  some  of  the  ladies  who  had  been  in 
prison,  and  whom  he  really  had  served,  in  getting 
them  their  liberty  after  the  death  of  Robespierre 
sooner  than  they  otherwise  would  have  done. 

He  said  that  he  had  never  spoken  to  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  in  his  life  till  after  the  King's  death. 
This  I  readily  believe,  for  the  Duke  had  often  de- 
clared to  me  that  he  never  had  spoken  to  Santerre, 
though  he  always  passed  for  one  of  his  chief 
agents. 

[Here  the  manuscript  terminates.] 

After  an  imprisonment  of  full  eighteen  months 
in  various  places,  Mrs.  Elliott  was  again  restored 
to  liberty.  She  had  been  fed  during  her  incarcera- 
tion upon  pickled  herrings,  at  the  rate  of  twopence 
a-day,  with  one  bottle  of  water  for  all  purposes. 


212      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

Her  captivity  was  shared,  latterly,  with  Madame 
Beauharnais,  afterwards  Madame  Bonaparte,  and 
also  with  a  notable  person,  Madame  De  Fontenaye, 
subsequently  Madame  Tallien.  All  three,  indeed, 
very  narrowly  escaped  destruction,  for  they  were 
ordered  for  execution,  and  their  locks  shorn,  on  the 
very  day  that  France  was  delivered  by  Providence 
from  the  monster  Robespierre.  On  emerging 
from  prison  she  immediately  sent  for  a  broker,  and 
disposed  of  such  an  amount  of  her  property  as 
enabled  her  to  pay  and  discharge  her  establishment 
of  servants,  sold  her  house  in  Paris  to  General 
Murat  *  (afterwards  King  of  Naples),  and  took 
a  cottage  at  Meudon.  Here  she  lived,  subsisting 
on  her  remaining  property,  and  mixing  in  the 
higher  circles  in  Paris  during  the  Consulate  and 
Empire. 

By  the  law  of  France,  after  the  Revolution,  It 
became  necessary  for  all  resident  foreigners  to 
adopt  a  native  of  the  country,  to  inherit  their  prop- 
erty. Mrs.  Elliott,  accordingly,  selected  the 
daughter  of  an  English  groom  in  the  stables  of  the 

*  It  was  afterwards  sold  to  General  Lannes,  Due  de  Monte- 
bcllo. 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      213 

Duke  of  Orleans.  This  young  person,  who  was 
educated  by  her,  had  a  remarkable  talent  for  music; 
and  inherited  whatever  property  Mrs.  Elliott  pos- 
sessed at  her  death. 

Of  the  great  man  who  filled  the  world  with  the 
fame  of  his  conquests,  Mrs.  Dalrymple  Elliott  used 
to  relate  many  anecdotes  of  the  period  when  he 
was  comparatively  little  known.  She  had  even 
received  an  offer  of  marriage  from  him,  which, 
however,  she  rejected. 

On  returning  to  Paris,  one  day,  and  paying  a 
visit  to  Madame  Beauharnais,  she  found  her  under 
the  hands  of  the  hair-dresser.  On  the  sofa  lay 
a  magnificent  blue  and  silver  dress.  On  observing 
it,  Mrs.  Elliott,  in  admiration,  exclaimed :  "  How 
very  charming!  And  where  may  you  be  going 
in  this  splendid  attire,  dear?" 

"  Oh,  stay  a  few  moments,"  replied  Madame 
Beauharnais,  who  spoke  tolerably  good  English, 
"  till  the  hair-dresser  is  gone,  and  I  will  tell  you 
all  about  it.  Look  at  that  dress:  it  is  from  your 
countr}'."  She  then  related  to  Mrs.  Elliott  that 
she  had  been  married  that  morning  to  General 
Bonaparte,  at  the  Municipality,  and  that  he  had 


214      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

obtained  the  command  of  the  army  of  Italy.  She 
had  no  affection  for  him,  she  said,  but  Barras  had 
recommended  her  to  accept  him.  "  How  could 
you  marry  a  man  with  such  a  horrid  name?  "  said 
Mrs.  Elliott.  "Why,  I  thought,"  replied  Ma- 
dame Beauharnais,  "  that  he  might  be  of  service 
to  my  children.  I  am  going  to  dine  at  the  Direc- 
tory by-and-by,  and  shall  go  a  part  of  the  way  with 
Bonaparte." 

Mrs.  Elliott  saw  no  more  of  her  until  after 
Bonaparte  became  First  Consul,  when  she  went  to 
the  Tuileries.  The  First  Consul,  it  is  known,  was 
fond  of  children.  On  this  occasion  Madame 
Bonaparte  drew  his  attention  to  some  beautiful 
children  who  were  walking  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Tuileries.  He  inquired  "who  they  were?" 
"  They  are  the  children  of  an  English  gentleman, 
Mr.  Clarke,"  was  the  reply. 

"  English !  "  he  exclaimed  with  bitterness.  "  I 
wish  the  earth  would  open  and  swallow  them  up." 

"  Well,  General,"  remarked  Mrs.  Elliott, 
"  that  is  not  very  gallant  to  me." 

"Oh!"  replied  Bonaparte,  "I  don't  consider 
you  to  be  English  —  you  are  a  Scotchwoman," 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR       215 

"  Ah !  "  she  rejoined,  "  I  am  prouder  of  being 
an  Englishwoman  than  of  anything." 

Bonaparte  could  not  bear  to  see  women  with 
uncovered  shoulders,  which  was  the  fashion  in 
Paris  at  that  time.  *'  Make  a  huge  fire,""  he 
would  say,  "  I  am  sure  the  ladies  will  perish  with 
cold." 

After  the  conquest  of  Italy,  Barras,  who  became 
acquainted  with  the  indiscreet  conduct  of  Madame 
Bonaparte  in  her  husband's  absence,  strongly  urged 
her  to  leave  Paris  immediately  and  join  him,  as- 
suring her  that  Madame  Letitia,  the  General's 
mother,  (who  highly  disapproved  of  the  marriage 
of  the  First  Consul  with  Madame  Beauharnais,) 
had  set  out  to  inform  Bonaparte  of  her  intrigue 
with  a  young  officer.  She  instantly  adopted  his 
advice,  and  fortunately  for  her,  arrived  before  the 
General's  mother  reached  the  camp,  whose  story 
was  thus  anticipated  and  discredited. 

At  the  period  of  the  signing  the  Treaty  of 
Peace  at  Amiens,  in  1801,  Lord  Malmesbury,  the 
British  Plenipotentiary,  met  Mrs.  Elliott  In  society, 
and  recommended  her  to  return  to  England  with 
him.     Of   this    opportunity    she    availed    herself. 


2i6      DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

travelling  under  the  assumed  name  of  Madame  St. 
Maur.  For  a  short  time  she  resided  at  Brompton, 
at  the  house  of  a  Mrs.  Naylor,  where  lodgings 
had  been  procured  for  her,  by  her  direction,  by  her 
maid,  Madame  La  Rue.  It  was  during  her  res- 
idence here,  that,  one  day  when  she  was  out  shop- 
ping with  Mrs.  Naylor,  her  attention  was  drawn  to 
a  post-chaise  and  four  by  a  gentleman  thrusting 
out  his  head  and  regarding  her  with  fixed  atten- 
tion. She  soon  recognized  in  the  traveller  the 
Hon.  Charles  Wyndham,  brother  of  Lord  Egre- 
mont.  It  afterwards  appeared  that  he  was  travel- 
ling to  Brighton  to  join  a  party,  at  which  the  Prince 
of  Wales  was  to  be  present,  at  the  Pavilion,  then 
the  mansion  of  the  Earl,  and  subsequently  the 
property  of  the  Prince.  On  his  arrival,  when  the 
party  was  assembled,  he  piqued  their  curiosity  as 
to  the  person  he  had  encountered  on  his  way, 
a  lady  whom  they  all  knew,  and  for  whom, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  Prince  entertained  the 
warmest  regard — "Who  do  you  think  the  lady 
was?"  he  said.  Having  raised  their  curiosity 
to  the  highest  pitch,  at  length  he  said,  "  One  from 
the   grave  —  Mrs.    Elliott,    even   more   beautiful 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      217 

than  ever."  The  Prince  was  so  delighted  at  the 
intelligence,  that  he  returned  that  very  night  to 
town,  and  sent  her  a  most  affectionate  letter,  beg- 
ging her  to  go  to  him.  Accordingly,  dressed  In  the 
simplest  manner,  she  went  to  Carlton  House,  and 
was  received  with  great  warmth  by  the  Prince; 
and  their  old  friendship  was  renewed. 

Mrs.  Elliott  remained  in  England  until  18 14, 
when  the  Bourbon  family  was  restored  to  the 
throne  of  France.  During  the  whole  period  of  her 
residence  here,  from  1801  to  18 14,  the  lady  who 
has  kindly  contributed  much  of  the  Information 
here  collected  resided  with  her,  and  she  also  ac- 
companied her  to  Paris,  and  remained  with  her 
ten  weeks.  The  cruelties  and  privations  which 
Mrs.  Elliott  had  endured  during  her  Iniquitous 
confinement  produced  a  most  Injurious  and  lasting 
effect  on  her  constitution.  She  was  long  an  Invalid, 
and  for  six  months  was  tenderly  nursed  by  the  lady 
here  alluded  to. 

Mrs.  Elliott  returned  to  Paris  at  the  same  time 
as  the  Royal  Family  of  France,  to  whom  restora- 
tion was  accompanied  with  very  painful  reminis- 
cences.    It  was  with  bitter  feeling  and  tears  that 


2i8       DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR 

the  poor  Duchess  d'Angouleme  regarded  this 
event:  hers  Indeed  had  been  a  life  of  poignant 
grief  and  troubles!  The  Due  de  Bourbon  was 
also  most  unhappy  on  the  occasion.  In  England 
he  said  he  had  lived  tranquilly,  and  was  loth  to 
leave  It.  "  What  do  I  go  to  France  for,"  he  said, 
"  but  to  meet  the  murderers  of  my  son?  " 

Mrs.  Elliott  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
Marquis  de  Chansenets  (whose  life  she  had  saved 
at  so  great  a  risk  of  her  own)  reinstated  as  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Tuileries. 

We  have  referred  to  her  exquisite  beauty.  Mrs. 
Elliott's  daughter,  Lady  Charles  Bentinck,  who 
was  always  very  affectionate  to  her,  used  to  say, 
that  on  looking  round  on  the  brilliant  assemblage 
of  lovely  women  to  be  found  In  the  Opera  House 
of  London,  she  saw  no  one  comparable  to  her 
mother  for  beauty  and  elegance  of  manners. 

The  late  Duke  of  Cambridge,  on  one  occasion, 
passing  along  the  Edgeware  Road,  observed  the 
panel  of  a  carriage  on  which  the  royal  arms  were 
quartered,  and  inquired  Into  the  circumstance.  He 
afterwards  went  to  Carlton  House  and  mentioned 
what  he  had  learnt;    on  which  the  Prince  sent  an 


DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  TERROR      219 

intimation  that  the  quartering  of  the  royal  arms 
would  not  be  permitted,  there  being  no  precedent 
for  It  since  the  days  of  the  merry  monarch,  Charles 
II. 

The  chequered  life  of  this  greatly-admired  and 
lovely  woman  quietly  terminated  at  Ville  d'Avray. 
She  had  witnessed  with  most  intense  grief  the  over- 
throw of  the  French  monarchy,  and  the  cruel  mur- 
der of  Louis  the  Sixteenth,  but  fortunately  did  not 
survive  (it  is  believed)  to  see  the  fresh  troubles  of 
France  in  1830,*  which  finally  terminated  in  the 
expulsion  of  the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbon 
family. 

Thus  ended  the  life  of  this  remarkable  woman; 
at  one  time  cherished  by  the  Princes  and  nobles  of 
the  land  —  at  another,  the  miserable  companion  of 
nobles  and  peasants,  reduced  to  one  common  level 
of  wretchedness,  expecting  one  moment  to  be  led 
away  to  the  scaffold,  amidst  the  yells  of  an  infur- 
iated and  brutal  mob,  and  at  another  to  perish  from 
starvation  and  neglect. 

THE    END 

*Mrs.   Elliott  died   >>Iay   15,   182.3. 


NOTES 

^  The  domain  of  Raincy,  situated  at  eleven  kilometers  from 
Paris,  between  the  forest  of  Bondy  and  the  road  to  Meaux, 
had  been  for  twenty  years  the  property  of  the  Due  d'Orleans. 
Philippe  Egalite's  father  had  purchased  it  in  1769  from  the 
Marquis  de  Livry,  for  the  sum  of  one  million  francs.  The 
chateau  had  been  built  by  Levau  in  1650,  for  Bordier,  Sec- 
retary of  State  and  Queen's  chancellor. 

In  1874,  after  many  vicissitudes,  the  domain  was  sold  to 
a  limited  joint-stock  company  which  divided  it  into  lots  and 
the   chateau   was  demolished. 

2  The  present  Pare  Monceau  is  but  a  small  part  of  the 
JMonceau  Gardens,  which  at  that  time  included  the  immense 
space  between  the  Rues  du  Rocher,  de  Monceau  and  de 
Courcelles.  On  this  property,  which  originally  was  a  part 
of  the  village  of  Monceau,  the  Due  d'Orleans,  then  Due  de 
Chartres,  erected  in  1778,  a  sumptuous  residence.  It  was  the 
celebrated  architect  Carmontelle  who  had  imagined  and  de- 
signed what  was  nicknamed  "  Chartres'  Folly,"  in  allusion 
to  the  enormous  sums  spent  on  it  by  the  due. 

The  main  entrance  was  then  opposite  the  Beaujon  Hos- 
pital, between  the  present  Rues  Rembrandt  and  de  Lisbonne. 
The  Monceau  Gardens,  as  they  were  at  that  period,  have 
been  described  with  minute  exactness  by  Thiery,  in  his  Guide 
de  Paris. 

s  i\Iadtmoiscllc  Agnes  de  Cepoy  had  been  married,  in  1784, 
to  Louis  Marie,  Comte  de  Buffon,  who  became  colonel  of 
cavalry,  and  who  was  the  son  of  the  great  naturalist.  She 
separated  from  him  two  years  after  tlie  debut  of  her  liaison 
with  the  Due  d'Orleans.     M.  de  Buffon  obtained  a  divorce 

221 


222  NOTES 

in  1793  and  died  on  the  scaffold  the  year  following.  Madame 
de  Buffon  was  likewise  arrested  and  confined  in  the  College 
du  Plessis,  where  she  found  herself  in  the  company  of  the 
poet  Rocher,  Andre  Chenier,  Sophie  de  Marigny,  the  Com- 
tesse  de  Duras  and  the  celebrated  comedienne  Montansier. 

All  contemporaries  do  not  seem  to  have  shared  Miss 
Elliott's  prejudices  with  regard  to  her.  The  Comte  de  la 
Marck.  who  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mirabeau,  expresses 
himself  as  follows:  "Monsieur  le  due  d'Orleans  was  sin- 
cerely loved  by  Madame  de  Buffon.  She  was  a  person  of 
little  wit,  but  possessed  much  charm  and  sweetness  of  char- 
acter. She  was  incapable  of  intrigue ;  she  never  had  the 
will  nor  the  wish  to  do  so.  She  sacrificed  much  for  M.  le 
due  d'Orleans  by  publicly  proclaiming  her  liaison  with  him ; 
for  she  was  banished  from  society,  in  which  she  had  always 
lived  before.  She  left  her  husband  and  remained  with  a 
very  small  fortune.  M.  le  due  d'Orleans  never  added  to  it. 
She  lived  in  a  simple  manner  on  her  modest  income,  in  a 
very  small  house,  where  I  often  saw  her.  She  was  not 
jealous  and  never  sought  to  lure  M.  le  due  d'Orleans  away 
from  Madame  de  Genlis,  whom  she  considered  a  superior 
woman,  apt  to  give  him  good  advice.  I  am  positive  that  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  when  M.  le  due  d'Orleans 
was  in  England,  he  earnestly  urged  Madame  de  Buffon  to 
leave  for  America  with  him,  where  they  would  live  together. 
She  declined  the  proposition,  giving  as  a  pretext  that  she 
would  not  be  able  to  survive  to  the  grief  caused  by  the  re- 
grets which  M.  le  due  d'Orleans  might  have  for  having  done 
so  rash  a  thing.  I  am  likewise  positive  that  after  the  mas- 
sacre of  Madame  de  Lamballe  and  during  the  King's  trial 
she  implored  the  Due  d'Orleans  to  tear  himself  from  the 
evil  advice  of  those  who  led  him  and  that  she  then  spoke 
1,0    him    with    much    energy    and    severity." 

■*  To  understand  the  atrocious  circumstances  of  Foullon's 
death,  one  must  recall  the  acts  through  which  he  had  attracted 
to  himself  a  universal  hatred.     The  populace  hated  him  for 


NOTES  223 

his  wealth  which  he  had  acquired  in  military  supplies  in  the 
course  of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  for  the  share  he  had  taken 
in  the  monopoly  which  in  this  year  of  plentiful  crops,  was 
the  cause  of  the  famine  in  Paris;  the  patriotes  were  aware 
that  attached  to  the  War  Department  during  the  Three  Day 
ministry,  he  had  contributed  to  the  service  of  repression  his 
genuine  talents  as  an  organizer,  providing  all  the  German 
regiments  which  surrounded  the  capital,  claiming  that  only 
one  day  was  necessary  to  "  subdue  the  Parisians."  On  the  13th 
of  July,  he  had  almost  forced  from  the  weak  Louis  XVI  the 
order  to  fire  on  the  people.  And  lastly,  he  had  perceived  the 
danger  in  which  the  intrigues  of  the  Orleanists  placed  royalty 
and  had  advised  the  King  to  have  the  Due  d'Orleans  confined 
in  the  Bastille  and  beheaded  at  once.  Imprudent  words  which 
were  fatal  to  Foullon,  for  its  seems  proven  that  it  was  the 
habitues  of  the  Palais-Royal,  in  the  due's  pay,  who  kept  up 
and  guided  the  people's  fury  on  the  Place  de  Greve. 

After  the  King's  visit  to  Paris,  July  15,  which  denoted 
the  defeat  of  the  policy  of  repression,  Foullon  went  into 
hiding;  he  caused  the  rumor  to  be  circulated  that  he  had 
died  of  apoplexy,  had  one  of  his  servants  who  had  died 
opportunely  buried  under  his  name  with  great  pomp,  and  took 
refuge  at  M.  de  Sartines'.  But  his  presence  being  suspected 
by  the  servants,  he  betook  himself  to  his  estate  at  Viry.  The 
peasants  who  had  suffered  through  his  hardness  of  heart  and 
avarice  and  who  had  not  been  deceived  by  his  ruse,  arrested 
him  on  the  threshold  of  his  property;  they  thrust  into  his 
mouth  a  handful  of  hay  with  which  he  wanted,  as  it  was 
said,  to  feed  the  people ;  about  his  neck  they  placed  a  collar 
of  nettles  and  on  his  back  a  sheaf.  In  this  gear,  he  wended 
his  way  to  Paris.  They  walked  all  night ;  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  having  reached  the  Barriere  d'ltalic,  the  cortege 
turns  over  its  prisoner  to  Acloquc,  president  of  one  of  the 
poorest  and  most  famished  districts,  that  of  Saint-Marcel, 
who  took  him  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  It  was  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning. 


224  NOTES 

The  electors,  who  were  in  session,  placed  him  under  a  strong 
guard  out  of  harm's  way  and  had  seals  put  on  his  papers. 
The  meeting  of  electors,  re-assembled  at  nine  o'clock,  ordered 
his  imprisonment  at  the  Abbaye  Prison  in  the  safe-keeping 
of  the  people  and  the  commander  of  the  national  guard,  under 
the  charge  of  Icse-nation.  FouUon  was  to  be  transferred 
there  at  nightfall,  so  as  not  to  attract  attention.  But  the 
report  of  his  arrest  has  spread.  At  noon  tumultuous  cries 
arise  from  the  Place  de  I'Hotel  de  Ville.  The  multitude 
gathered  there  asks  for  the  death  of  Foullon.  Lafayette,  who 
was  visiting  the  districts,  is  recalled;  Bailly  and  some  of  the 
electors  known  to  the  multitude  go  down  into  the  Place  to 
speak  words  of  peace  to  the  crowd.  Their  efforts  are  in 
vain;  the  rumor  has  spread  that  Foullon,  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  municipality,  has  escaped.     The   fury  redoubles. 

Foullon,  who  was  confined  in  the  Queen's  room,  is  com- 
pelled to  show  himself  at  the  window.  Shouts  of  joy  arise. 
At  the  same  instant  the  gates  are  broken,  the  doors  burst 
open,  and  the  multitude  overruns  the  stairs,  the  courtyard 
and  the  main  hall  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  asking  loudly  for 
Foullon. 

Morcau  de  Saint-IMery,  so  as  to  gain  time,  says  that  a 
trial  is  necessary.  "  Yes,"  replies  the  crowd,  "  let  him  be 
tried  at  once  and  hanged !  " 

A  court  of  justice  composed  of  seven  members  is  con- 
stituted by  acclamation.  The  curates  of  Saint-Etienne-du- 
Mont  and  of  Saint-Andre-des-Arts,  being  chosen,  decline. 

After  these  delays,  which  heap  the  measure  of  exasperation, 
Foullon  is  brought  in.  He  takes  his  seat  on  a  chair  which 
has  been  placed  on  a  table.  He  wishes  to  speak.  These 
words  are  heard :  "  Respectable  Assembly,  generous  and 
just  people ;  besides,  I  am  in  the  midst  of  my  fellow-citizens. 
I  fear  nothing !  .  .  ."  The  excitement  has  again  started 
and  with  redoubled  fury.  A  few  persons  with  the  outward 
appearance  of  respectability,  mingled  with  the  crowd,  en- 
courage it.     A  well-dressed  individual  addressing  the  bench, 


NOTES  225 

exclaims  angrily:  "What  need  is  there  of  judgment  for  a 
man  who  has  been  judged   for  thirty  years?" 

Three  distinct  times,  Lafayette  strives  to  calm  the  people. 
He  might,  perhaps,  have  succeeded,  when  a  new  crowd  from 
the  Faubourg  Saint-Antoine  and  the  Palais-Royal  invades  the 
hall.  The  table  on  which  Foullon  was  is  thrown  down,  when 
Lafayette  makes  one  last  effort.  "  Let  him  be  taken  to 
prison !  "  he  shouts.  Foullon  crosses  the  hall  without  being 
ill  treated;  but  an  instant  after,  seized  by  many  hands,  he 
disappears  in  an  eddy  of  the  crowd  and  suddenly  his  body  is 
seen  swinging  from  one  of  the  lamps  opposite  the  Hotel  de 
Ville ;  the  rope  having  broken  twice,  it  was  necessary  to 
secure  a  new  one. 

A  butcher  cuts  off  the  head ;  it  is  carried  about  Paris ;  it 
is  shown  to  his  son-in-law,  Bertier,  who  was  to  suffer  the 
same  fate,  a  few  hours  after.  As  to  the  body,  it  is  exposed 
to  view,  and  the  public  which  files  past  throws  its  mite  into 
the  hat  of  the  assassins.  FouUon's  remains,  wrapped  in  a 
filthy  cloth,  were  delivered  to  the  turnkey  of  the  Chatelet  at 
nine  o'clock  at  night. 

5  It  does  not  seem  that  Foullon's  son-in-law,  Bertier  dc 
Sauvigny,  intendant  de  la  generalite  of  Paris,  was  so  uni- 
versally hated  as  his  father-in-law.  Besides,  he  has  had  de- 
fenders. 

He  was,  according  to  M.  de  Boislisle  ("  Memoires  sur  la 
generalite  de  Paris,"  Introduction)  a  good  administrator  and 
had  made  a  number  of  reforms. 

But  he  had  been  unable  to  escape  the  unpopularity  attached 
to  his  family  and  to  his  office;  he  was  accused  of  having 
ordered  the  wheat  to  be  cut,  while  still  green,  to  serve  as 
fodder  to  the  cavalry  troops  called  to  Paris,  and  to  have  sup- 
plied cartridges  not  only  to  the  troops,  but  to  those  who  had 
signified  their  willingness  to  assist  in  the  repression  intended 
by  Foullon. 

A   price   was  therefore   set   upon   his   head  after  July   14. 

^  On  October  5,  at  noon,  the   King  niouiUod  his   horse   for 


226  NOTES 

a  hunt  in  the  woods  of  Meudon,  followed,  as  usual,  by  a 

small  escort. 

It  was  believed  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  situation  to 
make  one  uneasy.  The  Queen  was  at  Trianon,  at  the 
Orangerie.  The  Assembly,  displeased,  nervous,  irritated  by 
the  King's  delay  in  sanctioning  the  decrees  of  the  4th  of 
August,  was  discussing  the  veto.  The  sky  was  overcast,  but 
there  was  no  rain.  No  one  dreamed  that  tragic  events  were 
near,  when,  about  two  o'clock,  a  horseman  who  had  come  at 
full  speed  from  Paris,  came  to  notify  M.  de  Saint-Priest, 
Minister  of  the  King's  household,  that  Paris  was  in  a  state 
of  riot,  that  a  mob  of  15,000  men  and  women,  armed  with 
pikes,  knives,  guns,  dragging  cannons  and  uttering  horrible 
threats  against  the  King  and  specially  against  the  Queen,  was 
marching  on  Versailles. 

M.  de  Saint-Priest  at  once  informed  the  Queen  and  fifteen 
horsemen  rushed  in  all  directions  to  seek  the  King;  mean- 
while troops  were  being  assembled  on  the  Place  d'Armes. 

The  mob  concentrates  in  the  Champs-Elysees ;  Stanislas 
Maillard,  one  of  the  conquerors  of  the  Bastille,  succeeds  in 
having  the  women  give  up  their  weapons  and  all  start  towards 
Chaillot.  On  the  passage  of  this  strange  procession  the 
stores  are  closed,  to  the  rising  anger  of  the  crowd,  who  is 
beginning  to  be  hungry  and  thirsty.  At  Sevres,  it  is  with 
great  difficulty  that  Maillard  is  able  to  calm  the  crowd  by 
having  some  loaves  and  wine,  obtained  by  threats,  distributed. 

They  stop  at  Viroflay.  Maillard  explains  that  they  must 
affect  peaceful  airs,  shout :  "  Vive  le  Roi!  "  and  sing:  "  Vive 
Henri  IV!"  and  it  is  to  the  accompanying  noise  of  royalist 
songs  that  the  procession  enters  Versailles.  In  the  meantime, 
the  Marquis  de  Cubiercs,  had  rejoined  the  King  on  the 
heights  of  Meudon,  and  had  given  him  M.  de  Saint-Priest's 
letter.  Louis  XVI  reads  it  and  mounts  his  horse  without 
saying  a  word.  At  this  moment,  a  chevalier  de  Saint-Louis, 
whom  no  one  had  noticed,  approaches  and  says:  "Sire,  I 
come  from  the  Ecole  Militaire;  those  marching  on  Versailles 


NOTES  227 

are  only  women  who  are  coming  to  ask  for  bread.  I  beg 
Your  Majesty  not  to  be  afraid."  "  Sir,"  replied  Louis  XVI 
dryly,  "  I  have  never  been  afraid  in  my  life." 

The  hunt  returned  to  Versailles  by  an  out-of-the-way  road. 

At  the  Assembly,  where  the  session  had  been  rather  lively, 
they  were  discussing  the  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Men. 
It  was  Mirabeau  who  notified  Mounier,  the  president,  of  the 
approach  of  the  manifestation.  At  three  o'clock,  Target  in- 
troduced a  committee  of  fifteen  women,  led  by  Maillard. 

Maillard  was  pale  and  tired,  his  clothes  were  in  disorder. 
He  made  a  bad  impression  on  the  Assembly. 

In  violent  terms,  he  declares  that  the  people  have  no  bread, 
and  if  it  is  lacking,  it  is  because  of  the  monopolies.  Ro- 
bespierre seconds  him. 

The  people  demand  reparation  for  the  insult  to  the  national 
cockade  by  the  gardes  du  corps  at  their  banquet ;  the  concen- 
tration of  troops  about  the  King  causes  them  anxiety ;  the 
Flanders  regiment  recently  called  to  Versailles  against  the 
wishes  of  the  Assembly,  must  be  sent  away;  a  stop  must  be 
put  to  the  manoeuvres  of  the  monopolists;  the  Assembly  must 
therefore  send  a  committee  to  the  King,  or  else  Maillard  will 
go  himself  with  the  women.  With  regret,  Mounier  starts  for 
the  chateau. 

Louis  XVI,  having  returned  to  the  chateau,  found  in  the 
council  chamber  his  gentlemen  and  his  ministers.  Varied 
advice  is  offered  him.  M.  de  Narbonne  wished  to  disperse 
the  mob  by  the  use  of  force,  others  wished  to  get  the  King 
away,  or  at  least  the  Queen.  Louis  XVI  refuses  all  this 
advice,  and  the  Queen  does  not  wish  to  abandon  the  King. 
Besides,  the  coaches  had  been  stopped  by  the  people  on  the 
watch,  and  were  unable  to  enter  the  chateau. 

Mounier,  who  was  accompanied  by  twelve  women,  was 
ushered  in.  The  King  received  them  with  kindness  and  or- 
dered all  the  bread  to  be  found  in  Versailles  distrilnited  to 
them.  One  of  the  women,  Louison  Chabry,  was  so  affected 
that  she   fainted. 


228  NOTES 

Astonished  and  captivated  by  Louis  XVI's  kindly  air,  they 
left  the  chateau  in  an  enthusiastic  mood.  Believing  them  to 
have  been  won  over  by  a  bribe,  the  crowd  wished  to  attack 
them :  they  were  obliged  to  return  to  the  King  and  secure 
from  him  a  written  order  against  the  monopolists. 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  at  the  chateau,  time 
had  flown ;  it  was  midnight  and  raining. 

At  Paris,  the  national  guard,  assembled  to  protect  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  after  the  departure  of  the  women,  wished  also  to 
march  to  Versailles.  The  guard  resented  the  insult  to  the 
national  cockade;  the  idea  of  bringing  the  King  back  to 
Paris,  which  had  been  growing  in  the  capital  since  the 
month  of  August,  was  in  great  favor  there.  "  General," 
said  a  corporal,  "the  people  lack  bread,  misery  is  at  its 
height,  the  committee  on  supplies  deceives  you  or  is  deceived. 
This  position  cannot  last;  there  is  only  one  thing  to  do;  let 
us  go  to  Versailles  I  People  say  that  the  King  is  an  im- 
becile ;  we  shall  place  the  crown  on  his  son's  head,  a  regency 
will  be  established  and  conditions  will  improve." 

Lafayette  mounted  his  horse  and  for  several  hours  seemed 
to  oppose  this  movement.  But  people  were  becoming  ex- 
cited ;  gangs  from  the  Faubourg  Saint-Antoine  and  from 
the  Faubourg  Saint-Marceau  were  invading  the  square ;  it  was 
necessary  to  start. 

Lafayette  secures  from  the  Hotel  de  Ville  an  order  signed 
by  two  commissaries,  and  at  five  in  the  evening  they  start. 

The  national  guard  arrived  at  Versailles  about  twenty 
minutes  of  twelve,  wet,  famished,  in  disorder.  While  crossing 
Viroflay,  Lafayette  had  made  them  swear  fidelity  to  the 
King  and  to  the  Constitution.  Without  losing  any  time,  he 
presented  himself  before  the  Assembly,  protesting  that  law 
and  order  would  be  respected ;  he  asked  that  the  King  recall 
the  Flanders  regiment,  and  that  he  speak  a  few  words  in 
favor  of  the  tricolor  cockade.  Then  he  went  towards  the 
chateau,  which  he  entered  alone.  When  he  crossed  the  (Eil- 
de-Boeuf,  the  courtiers,  in  dejection,  looked  at  him  in  silence, 


NOTES  229 

Someone  said :  "  Here  comes  Cromwell !  "  "  Sir,"  replied  La- 
fayette, very  pale,  "  Cromwell  would  not  have  entered  alone." 
Louis  XVI  received  the  general  with  dignity  and  affability. 
The  latter  said  that  the  people  had  sworn  love  and  fidelity 
to  the  King,  and  that  order  would  be  maintained.  The 
Parisians  demanded  that  the  King  confide  the  care  of  his 
person  to  them ;  that  he  communicate  to  the  Assembly  through 
his  ministers  a  report  on  the  food  supply  of  the  capital,  so 
as  to  reassure  those  who  were  alarmed  by  the  approach  of 
winter;  that  he  hasten  the  work  of  the  Assembly,  finally 
that  he  come  and  dwell  at  the  Tuileries  in  accordance  with 
the  loudly  expressed  wish  of  the  Parisian  population. 

Louis  XVI  acceded  to  all  of  Lafayette's  demands,  ex- 
cepting to  the  latter,  to  which  he  made  an  evasive  reply. 

Lafayette  at  once  orders  to  the  chateau  a  battalion  of  the 
national  guards  composed  of  former  French  guards. 

He  then  attended  to  the  finding  of  lodgings  for  his  troops, 
and  the  sending  of  patrols  through  the  streets  of  Versailles. 

After  Lafayette's  departure,  Mounicr  and  some  deputies 
called  upon  the  King  and  were  well  received.  He  assured 
them  that  he  had  no  intention  of  going  away.  He  requested 
them  to  return  to  the  Assembly. 

These  having  left,  the  King  had  his  apartments  cleared 
and  decided  to  go  to  bed. 

Marie-Antoinette  was  awake.  She  authorized  M.  de  Fron- 
deville  to  take  a  hundred  horses,  but  only  if  the  King's  life 
was   in   danger. 

Madame  de  Tourzel  and  the  royal  children  slept  on  the 
ground-floor.  It  was  agreed  that  at  the  first  sign  of  danger 
she  was  to  bring  them  up  to  the  Queen.  Later  she  received 
an  order  to  bring  thcni  up  to  the  King  instead. 

Mounier  kept  the  Assembly  in  session  for  a  few  moments: 
then,  Lafayette  having  assured  him  that  order  would  not  be 
disturbed,  he  dismissed  it. 

.'\t  that  moment,  a  patrol  of  national  guards,  conmiandcd  by 
a  second-lieutenant,  attempted  to  enter  the  chateau  to  niaJte 


230  NOTES 

sure  that  all  was  well;  being  stopped  by  the  watch,  they 
broke  one  of  the  gates  of  the  Rue  des  Reservoirs  and  entered 
the  park.     .     .     , 

Lafayette,  after  having  presented  himself  once  more  at 
the  chateau  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  having 
talked  for  a  time  with  M.  de  Montmarin,  returned  to  L'Hotel 
de  Noailles,  which  he  had  made  his  headquarters,  and  threw 
himself   fully  dressed  on  a  field-bed. 

A  half  hour  after,  the  chateau  was  invaded. 

What  had  happened? 

Simply  this :  throughout  the  entire  day  of  the  5th,  the  gate 
had  been  kept  closed.  On  the  morning  of  the  6th,  the 
former  French  guards  who  composed  the  watch  opened  it  — 
by  chance,  or  at  a  mysterious  password  —  at  half  past  five, 
as  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  doing. 

At  this  moment  single  individuals,  then  numerous  groups, 
assemble  on  the  Place  d'Armes ;  they  seem  to  have  no  par- 
ticular aim  in  view ;  they  approach  the  gates ;  then  seeing 
that  they  are  allowed  to  do  as  they  will,  they  enter,  some  in 
the  Cour  des  Ministres,  others  in  the  Cour  de  la  Chapelle, 
whose  door  was  open  ;   then  finally  into  the  Cour  Royale. 

Soon  the  conversation  becomes  animated ;  they  call  one  an- 
other's attention  to  the  gardes  du  corps  who,  furious,  are 
looking  down  from  the  windows.  The  crowd  becomes  ex- 
cited. A  clash  is  inevitable.  A  report  rings  out;  a  cabinet 
maker,   Lheritier,  is  killed. 

No  one  knows  how  this  happened.  M.  Batiffol,  who  has 
written  an  excellent  study  of  the  October  days,  claims  that 
a  man  had  attempted  to  climb  up  the  columns  which  support 
the  balcony  of  the  royal  chamber;  he  was  shot  down  with  a 
pistol  ball. 

M.  Mathiez  has  a  different  version:  the  garde  du  corps,  on 
duty  at  the  bottom  of  the  marble  stairs,  overrun  by  the  crowd, 
instead  of  calling  the  national  guards  to  his  assi.stance,  fell 
back  on  his  corporal  who,  to  free  himself,  fired  his  carbine. 

However  that  may  be,  the  now  enraged  crowd  invaded  the 


NOTES  231 

marble  staircase;  a  garde  du  corps  named  Deshuttes,  found 
behind  a  door,  was  surrounded,  disarmed  and,  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye,  thrown  to  the  ground ;  he  had  hardly  fallen  when 
a  man  with  a  long  black  beard,  named  Nicholas  Jourdan,  a 
rag  picker  from  the  Faubourg  Saint-Marceau,  some  say,  a 
model,  say  others,  dressed  in  a  costume  of  antique  fashion, 
chops  off  his  head  with  an  axe. 

During  that  time,  the  corporals  of  the  guards  assemble 
their  men  at  the  head  of  the  stairs.  One  of  these,  M. 
Aliomandre  de  Sainte-Marie,  attempts  to  parley;  he  is  seized 
by  his  shoulder-belt,  struck  and  has  great  trouble  to  escape. 
The  guards,  having  been  unable  to  fire,  barricade  themselves 
in  the  halls.  But  the  door  of  the  great  hall  is  shattered  and 
they  disperse.  One,  M.  de  Varicourt,  struck  on  the  head 
with  a  pike,  falls ;  he  is  immediately  beheaded  by  Jourdan. 

The  guard  Aliomandre  de  Saint-Marie  can,  however, 
through  a  partly  open  door,  warn  one  of  the  Queen's  femme 
de  chambre  of  Her  Majesty's  danger;  surrounded,  struck 
from  all  sides,  his  devotion  almost  costs  him  his  life. 

Marie-Antoinette,  notified  by  her  maids,  rushes  half  un- 
dressed through  the  door  on  the  right  of  her  bed,  towards 
the   King's   apartments. 

But  she  must  cross  the  CEil-de-Bceuf. 

The  connecting  door  is  locked  on  the  outside.  The  maids 
knock,  call,  tremble  at  the  thought  of  being  rejoined  by  the 
invaders.  At  last,  two  valets  open  the  door  and  close  it  im- 
mediately they  have  entered.  The  Queen  is  saved.  Mean- 
>.h.ile,  Louis  XVI,  awakened  by  the  noise,  has  arisen. 
Realizing  the  Queen's  danger,  he  descends  the  little  stairway 
which  opens  on  the  Cour  des  Cerfs  and  reascends  by  the 
secret  passages  leading  to  the  Queen's  apartments.  She  was 
no  longer  there;  he  returned  to  his  rooms  by  way  of  the 
CEil-de-Ba-uf. 

On  the  ground-floor,  Madame  de  Tourzel,  notified  by  the 
captain  of  the  guards,  M.  de  Saint-.\ulairc,  carries  the 
Dauphin  to  the  King's  room,  where  Madame   Elisabeth  was 


232  NOTES 

already.  Marie-Antoinette  herself  went  after  Madame 
Royale. 

In  Versailles,  the  tocsin  rings,  the  national  guards  as- 
semble. The  battalion  of  Recollets,  commanded  by  Dr.  Goud- 
ran,  the  first  to  reach  the  courtyard,  charges  up  the  marble 
stairway  and  clears  the  Salle  des  gardes  du  Roi,  which  the 
rioters  were  about  to  pillage. 

The  national  guards  rush  from  all  sides;  they  deliver  some 
gardes  du  corps  who  were  being  attacked  by  the  mob,  and 
charge  the  pillagers.  At  a  quarter  past  five  calm  had  been 
re-established. 

In  the  meantime  the  chateau  was  filling  up. 

All  those  who  dwelt  there  grouped  themselves  about  Louis 
XVI.  The  royal  family  is  assembled  in  the  Council  Room. 
The  Dauphin  is  hungry;  he  weeps;  the  Queen  is  indignant. 

In  the  Council  chamber,  the  King,  surrounded  by  his 
ministers,  receives  Lafayette.  He  advises  Louis  XVI  to 
show  himself  to  the  people  and  to  speak  to  them  so  as  to 
quiet  them.  Lafayette  himself  appears  on  the  balcony;  he 
beseeches  the  people  to  be  calm,  to  leave  the  disturbers  whose 
excesses  dishonor   and  compromise  the   Revolution. 

Suddenly  a  voice  arises :  "  Let  the  Queen  appear  on  the 
balcony!"  At  the  entreaty  of  Lafayette,  she  comes  for- 
ward, the  Dauphin  and  Madame  Royale  on  either  side. 

But  shouts  arise:     "No  children!" 

She  quickly  pushes  her  children  away  and  stands  alone  and 
unmoved,   face  to   face  with  the  mob. 

Before  this  proud  attitude,  applause  breaks  out;  fury  gives 
way  to  enthusiasm.  Even  the  gardes  du  corps  are  cheered; 
ihey  appear  on  the  balcony ;  they  exchange  their  shoulder- 
l;elts  and  hats  for  the  bonnets  of  the  grenadiers  of  the  na- 
tional guards. 

But  from  the  crowd  comes  the  cry:  "Let  the  King  come 
to  Paris !  "  This  had  been  the  main  topic  of  conversation 
throughout   the    day.     Many    said    that    their    day    would    be 


NOTES  233 

wasted   did  they  not  bring   Louis   XVI   back  to   the  Tuile- 
ries.    .    .    , 

The  cries  of  the  mob  brought  on  Louis  XVI  a  state  of 
amazement   hard   to   describe. 

M.  de  Saint-Priest  approached  him  and  advised  him  to 
accept.  All  delay  was  useless ;  it  was  the  best  way  to  get  rid 
of  those  bandits. 

"  Ah,  Monsieur  de  Saint-Priest,"  said  the  Queen,  "  why  did 
we  not  go  last  night !  " 

"  It  is  not  my  fault,"  he  replied. 

"  I  know  it !  " 

(Memoires  de  Saint-Priest). 

About  eleven  o'clock,  the  clamors  becoming  louder,  Louis 
XVI  came  to  a  decision.  He  appeared  on  the  balcony  and 
said : 

"  My  friends,  I  shall  go  to  Paris  with  my  wife  and  chil- 
dren;  it  is  to  the  love  of  my  good  and  faithful  subjects  that 
I  confide  that  which  is  most  precious  to  me    .     .     ." 

Applause  broke  out. 

The  deputies  who  were  present  at  the  chateau  proposed  to 
have  the  Assembly  meet  in  the  Salon  d'Hercule. 

But  Mirabeau  refused  to  allow  the  Assembly  to  deliberate 
in  the  palace  of  the  Kings.  It  was  decided  to  send  to  the 
chateau  a  committee  composed  of  twelve  members  led  by 
the  Abbe  d'Eymar,  who  soon  reported  the  King's  resolution 
to  return  to  Paris,  and  to  transfer  the  Assembly  to  that 
city.  The  remainder  of  the  day  was  taken  up  in  preparing 
for  the  departure.  As  the  people  were  becoming  impatient 
only  the  absolutely  necessary  things  were  taken. 

.A^t  one  o'clock,  Ixiuis  XVI  entered  his  coach  with  the 
Queen   and   their  children. 

Madame  Elisabeth  and  Madame  de  Tourzcl  accompanied 
them. 

On  cither  side  of  the  coach  were  Lafayette  and  the 
Comte  d'Estaing  on  horseback. 


234  NOTES 

The  national  guards  marched  ahead,  without  order;  then 
came  the  women,  the  men  with  pikes,  the  soldiers  of  the 
Flanders  regiment,  the  hundred  Swiss,  the  dragoons,  and 
last  came  the  royal  coach. 

The  women  sang  at  the  top  of  their  voices,  jumping, 
waving  branches  decked  with  ribbons,  and  repeating  the  well 
known  refrain :  "  We  are  bringing  back  the  baker,  the  baker's 
wife  and  the  little  baker  boy!" 

Carts  laden  with  wheat  and  flour,  met  on  the  way  and 
brought  back  to  Paris  by  force,  followed,  ornamented  with 
foliage. 

And  behind  these,  closing  up  the  march,  came  the  gardes 
du  corps  unarmed,  bare-headed  or  wearing  the  bonnets  of  the 
national  guards. 

At  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  in  the  fog,  in  weather  sombre, 
cold  and  rainy,  the  procession  entered  Paris. 

'■  Due  d'Arenberg,  Louis-Englebert  d'Arenberg,  d'Arschot 
and  de  Croy  (1750-1820),  was  a  brother  of  the  Comte  de  la 
Marck,  the  intimate  friend  of  Mirabeau. 

*  William  Gardiner  (1748-1805)  was  in  Belgium  as  Envoy- 
extraordinary  from  Great  Britain  since  the  month  of  De- 
cember, 1789.  He  left  Brussels  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1792.    He  died  in  1805. 

^  Lord  Gower  was  appointed  English  Ambassador  to  Paris 
in  1790. 

^°  Spa  was  one  of  the  centers  of  what  Forneron  called 
I'emigration  joyeuse.  "  There  had  withdrawn,"  says  Forne- 
ron, "  the  Princesse  de  Lamballe  with  Mesdames  de  Lage  and 
de  Ginestons.  She  had  there  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
beautiful  Georgina,  Duchess  of  Devonshire,  at  whose  house 
at  Spa,  assembled  Mr.  Crawford,  an  English  colonel,  the 
Lavals,  the  Luxenibourgs '  dancing  merrily  while  their  chateaux 
were  being  plundered ! ' "  The  Princesse  de  Lamballe  re- 
turned to  France  on  the  advice  of  her  father,  the  Due  de 
Penthievre.     Everyone  knows  what  her  end   was   to  be. 

When  Miss  Elliott  reached   Spa,  Belgium  was  the  center 


NOTES  235 

of  emigration ;  the  Comte  de  Provence,  who  had  left  France 
by  way  of  the  North,  had  been  able,  thanks  to  the  devotion 
of  his  friend  D'Avaray,  to  escape  the  dangers  which  threatened 
him,  and  take  refuge  in  Brussels.  The  Comte  d'Artois  had 
gone  to  meet  him  there  with  Calonne  and  Breteuil. 

^1  The  minutes  of  the  meetings  of  the  revolutionary  munici- 
pality of  Meudon  are  yet  to  be  published.  M.  de  Grouchy, 
in  his  article  on  Chateaux  of  Meudon,  Bellevue  and  Chaville 
(Revue  de  I'Histoire  de  Paris,  Volume  XX)  has  made  use 
of  the  matter  which  relates  to  the  chateau,  but  it  is  Miss 
Elliott  who  best  shows  us  what  a  small  commune  in  the  en- 
virons of  Paris  was  during  the  Revolution.  We  see  at  least 
that  former  servants  and  purveyors  of  the  chateau,  having 
become  municipal  officials,  were  not,  in  direct  opposition  to 
what  happened  elsewhere,  and  notably  at  Versailles,  very 
terrible  demagogues,  and  that  they  knew  how  to  respect  the 
beau    mo  ride. 

1-  La  Chronique  Parisienne  informs  us  that  "  Evenements 
Imprevus "  was  played  July  18,  1792,  on  the  stage  of  the 
Theatre  Italien.  This  play  was  not  in  the  repertoire ;  the 
fashionable  play  of  the  Theatre  Italien  was  at  that  time 
"  Romeo  et  Juliette  or  Love  in  death,"  which  had  been 
produced   for  the  first  time  in  the  first  days  of  July. 

1^  Louis  Pierre  dc  Champcenets  was  born  in  1748.  He  was 
a  captain  of  dragoons  when  he  was  appointed  Governor  of 
the  Tuilerics  in  November,  1789,  shortly  after  the  King's  re- 
turn ;  his  father,  Jean  Frangois  de  Richebourg,  Marquis  de 
Champcenets,  had  already  held  that  post. 

Without  intending  to  repeat  here  the  events  of  the  loth 
of  August,  we  shall  call  attention  to  what  extent  the  decrees 
of  the  Assembly  and  the  lack  of  foresight  on  the  part  of 
the  court  had  made  the  task  of  the  defenders  of  the  Tuileries 
difficult.  The  constitutional  guard,  which  took  the  place  of 
the  former  King's  household,  dissolved  by  a  decree  of  the 
Assembly,  had  not  been  replaced;  the  King  continued  the 
pay  of   the   former  guards,  believing,   no  doubt,  that  he   was 


236  NOTES 

keeping  to  himself,  without  arousing  the  suspicions  of  the 
Assembly,  a  body  of  devoted  servants. 

There  were  Swiss  attached  to  the  service  of  the  chateau, 
but  the  court,  when  planning  to  send  the  King  to  Normandy, 
had  sent  one  of  its  battalions  in  the  direction  of  Rouen  to 
watch  over  the  coming  in  of  grain.  Therefore,  there  were 
left  about  800  men,  garrisoned  at  Courbevoie,  and  about  an 
equal  number  of  nobles  devoted  to  the  royal  family.  The 
other  troops,  mounted  police,  or  national  guard,  were  under 
the  authority  of  the  governor  of  the  chateau  only  while  on 
duty.  The  national  guards,  the  gunners,  the  mounted  police 
which  assured  order  in  Paris,  and  which  defended  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  Tuileries,  were  under  the  orders  of  Mandat. 
His  tragic  end  rendered  useless  the  clever  arrangements  he 
had  made.  It  was  therefore  the  Swiss  and  the  devoted  fol- 
lowers grouped  in  the  interior  of  the  chateau  and  led  by 
Champcenets,  who  bore  the  brunt  of  the  fight ;  the  terrible 
losses  sustained  by  the  besiegers  proved  that  they  did  their 
duty  with  courage  and  intelligence.  Champcenets  took  refuge 
in  England  after  the  dramatic  incidents  related  by  Miss 
Elliott;  he  remained  there  until  his  death. 

1*  Huskisson  (1770-1830).  He  became  private  secretary 
to  Lord  Govver  in  1790. 

15  M.  Albert  Terrade,  who  has  been  fortunate  enough  to 
secure  the  testimony  of  a  witness,  has  published  in  the 
"  Memoires  de  la  Societe  historique  de  Versailles,"  a  most 
realistic  account  of  the  memorable  meeting  at  which  the  Due 
d'Orleans  voted  the   King's  death. 

M.  Fosse-Darcosse,  who  lived  to  a  very  advanced  age,  re- 
tained a  most  accurate  recollection  of  that  day.  Almost  a 
child  he  had  mingled  with  the  crowd  which,  as  early  as  the 
15th  January,  surrounded  the  Manege,  and  had  succeeded 
on  the  i6th  in  slipping  into  one  of  the  galleries.  His  heart 
filled  with  emotion,  he  witnessed  that  permanent  sitting  which, 
begun  at  8  o'clock  at  night,  did  not  end  until  thirty-six  hours 
later.     The  presence  of  so  many  patriots  was  easily  explained. 


NOTES  i237 

it  was  the  time  when  the  Convention  was  voting  on  the  3rd 
question  of  the  King's  trial. 

"  What  penalty  shall  be  inflicted  on  Louis  ?  " 

The  roll  call  began  and  hour  after  hour  deputy  followed 
deputy  to  the  platform,  uttering  the  single  word:  "Death! 
Death ! "  Only  a  few,  Robespierre,  Couthon,  Barbaroux, 
Danton,  explained  their  votes.  A  feeling  of  lassitude  was 
creeping  over  the  galleries  when  Philippe  Egalite  was 
called.  At  this  name,  silence  became  general,  and  even  the 
Knitters  interrupted  their  work  for  an  instant.  Philippe 
Egalite  slowly  mounted  the  steps  of  the  platform  and  said : 

"  Solely  influenced  by  a  sense  of  duty,  convinced  that  all 
those  who  have  attacked  or  will  attack  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people  deserve  death,  I  vote  for  death." 

There  was  an  interval  of  frigid  silence  made  up  of  stupe- 
faction and  disgust,  then  suddenly,  all  the  people  in  the 
galleries  who  had  come  to  ask  for  the  head  of  Louis  XVI, 
broke  out  in  insults,  and  it  was  amidst  hoots  and  hisses  that 
Egalite  resumed  his  seat  in  the  Assembly. 

1^  The  family  of  OHivier  de  Senozan,  which  possessed  in 
the  eighteenth  century  the  comte  and  the  marquisat  of  Rosny, 
was  a  family  of  eminent  magistrates  allied  to  the  greatest 
names  of  the  ancient  aristocracy.  President  Ollivier  dc 
Senozan  through  his  marriage  with  a  Lamoignon  de  Males- 
herbes,  left  at  his  death  in  1740,  a  daughter  married  to 
Prince  Tuigry-Montmorency  and  two  sons,  the  elder  of  which 
died  at  22  years  of  age.  It  is  the  wife  of  the  second  son, 
Jean  Francois  Ferdinand  Ollivier  de  Senozan  de  Taulignan, 
who  was  for  a  short  time  mixed  up  in  the  life  of  Miss 
Elliott. 

i'^  The  English  edition  bears  the  name  Milor,  which  is  an 
error.  It  is  Milon,  not  master  of  the  ballet,  but  a  simple 
supernumerary  in  the  ballet  of  the  Opera,  who  is  in  question. 

As  to  Bigottini,  who  descended  no  doubt  from  the  former 
Arlequin  of  the  Comedie  Italienne,  she  also  was  a  super- 
numerary in  the  dances.    It  is  only  in  1790  that  Milon  and 


238  NOTES 

Bigottini  dwelt  together  at  No.  170  Faubourg  Saint-Martin, 
where  they  lived  until  1792,  at  which  time  Milon  left  the 
Opera.  They  then  came  to  settle  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple, 
near  the  old  gate,  thus  not  too  far  from  the  Opera,  where 
Bigottini   was   still   appearing   in   1794. 

1**  Deputy  from  Marne  at  the  Convention,  Jean  Cesar  Bat- 
telier  was  mayor  of  Vitry-le-Frangois,  his  native  town,  when 
he  was  elected.  After  having  been  identified  on  the  side 
of  the  Montagne,  he  succeeded  in  being  forgotten  at  the 
time  of  the  Thermidor  proscriptions,  was  commissary  of  the 
Directory  in  the  Marne  Department  and  concluding  a  final 
evolution,  died  Imperial  Prosecutor  in  1808. 


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